Making It Work
Communicate
According to the website 'save your marriage', "lack of communcation breeds apathy and mistrust, which over time destroys the best of marriages" It is easy to get caught up in the cycle of each partner placing their energies elsewhere when work and family life take over. Putting communication first means that your relationship will be more satisfying and other areas of your life will follow suite.
Spend time together
No marriage can survive without a couple spending some time alone together away from the pressures of modern living and children. Arrange a baby sitter a couple of times a month and make the effort to go out together. Chances are you will remember why you fell in love in the first place and spending quality time together can make you appreciate one another again.
Put yourself in their shoes
Psychologist Susan Marchant-Haycock suggests that "There's a tendency for many people to be concerned only with their own happiness and gratification with little thought given for the feelings of others". This applies to marriage as well. You may be unhappy because of his behaviour but consider how you are reacting and why your husband may be behaving in the way he does. Have empathy and respect for their point of view as well as your own.
Don't look back
The counselling group Relate partly blames the increase in divorce rates on websites such as Facebook and Friends Reunited. Spokesman Chrsitine Northam says "With the Internet, people can make arrangements to have an affair much more easily than they've been able to do in the past. If you're feeling wobbly in your relationship you may look back to a more rose-tinted past." Concentrate on making your marriage work rather than looking to a past relationship for the solution.
The grass isn't always greener
You may sometimes hanker for your carefree single days now that you are married, however focus on the positives of being married and what negatives there were attached to your old lifestyle. In a similar way, it doesn't do anyone any good to envy the marriages of friends or family. No one knows what goes on behind closed doors. Focus on your own relationship rather than the relationships of others.
Next: 5 more tips for a healthy marriage
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