Everyone has relationship problems at some time or another. Maybe you haven’t fought with your significant other the way you fought with your ex, or maybe your last screaming match was yesterday. Either way, we could all use a little help working on our communication. It is true that I don’t work with couples, but I have ended up helping individuals focus on one side of their relationship equation. That almost always involves communication to some degree.
One of the most common suggestions I make to people is to work on the way they show affection to their partner. Everyone who has been in a long-lasting relationship knows that you need to show your partner that you care every so often, even after many years. What many people don’t consider is that people send and receive affection in different ways. Some of us need to hear affectionate words every now and then while others feel neglected without the occasional gift. Unfortunately, we naturally tend to give affection in the way we prefer to receive it which creates a problem if our partner doesn’t like the same kinds of affection.
For this kind of situation, I encourage people to read about the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. The five languages (gifts, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service, and physical touch) are the ways in which we all give and receive affection, but we each have one or two that we naturally prefer. Once you know how to show affection to your partner in the language they understand, and they do the same for you, your relationship can regain some of that connection it might have lost. I encourage people to take the free quiz on the love languages website to learn their language to get started on improving their relationship.
https://www.5lovelanguages.com/
-Travis
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