The Six Things You Need for a Happy, Longterm Relationship
On your search for a good one – and it only takes one — there are a few things you need in order to have a happy, longterm relationship. Yesterday, I asked the DW community on Facebook for six things that were most important for them in their search for a happy, longterm relationship. Here are some of the answers I liked best:
1. “Communication, ability to spend time apart, both people willing to invest in the relationship, someone to share chocolate with, and the same overall goals with the relationship.”
2. “A delicious cheesecake recipe, a willingness to make said cheesecake, a generosity of spirit to share said cheesecake, the foresight to always have the ingredients to make cheesecake on hand, clean forks, and cold milk.”
3. “Income, alcohol, internet, cheese, TV, and king size bed.”
And here are mine:
1. A desire to be in a relationship and the willingness to risk getting hurt.
2. The patience, trust and faith needed to hang in there while you search for the right match.
3. A willingness and commitment to work through your shit.
4. A willingness to accept someone else’s shit.
5. The wisdom to know when to MOA.
6. A life outside of a relationship.
Wendy, your 6 are absolutely perfect. Love it.
I think all these things are good. Personally, I needed the following things before I was able to have a happy long term relationship (these are geared more towards what you need to have personally, not quailities in a partner or something similar):
1-Maturity
2- Ability to see the big picture
3- Learn that I’m not always right (working on this daily)
4- Sense of humor
5- Realistic outlook on life
6- Happiness within myself
I hate learning that I’m not always right. I wish I could just be right all the time!
Me too.
Maturity is huge! I think gaining control over ones emotions helps a lot in relationships. I’m sure there are plenty of guys that I dated when I was 19,20,21 that I could date again nowadays and it would be a completely different experience.
But I don’t get it. What do I do if I AM always right? Does that mean I only have to focus on the other five? 😉
Yes BANANA. That’s what I do at least.
You know, I was thinking, there’s another thing that needs to go on the list, and that is a SHAVING RAZOR. I say that because I only tend to use them when I’m in a relationship. Ergo it must be an essential to having a relationship.
I agree. I love my husband, and we have a great relationship. But I’ll admit, sometimes I want to just veg in my underwear, reading a naught book and eating chocolate. That, or “make” a bowl of cereal for dinner. Or even just go and do whatever, whenever, without checking in or coordinating schedules. But I do love the feeling of smooth legs. 🙂
Oops, *naughty.
I didn’t realize what this article was about! I thought it was more like “once you’re in a relationship” but it’s really more about the process of finding a relationship. Interesting.
Also, I hate king sized beds. Staying in a hotel is soooo weird for us because we usually sleep super close, if not touching in our queen sized bed. That’s the way we like it.
Ah, I LOVE king size beds. We both tend to take up a lot of space when we sleep, and toss and turn, so it’s awesome to have the extra room.
I think the king v queen debate can be almost as heated as the tv in the bedroom debate.
I don’t understand why it’s a debate. It’s like debating what’s better: cake or more cake? It’s cake! More is more!
What if you don’t like cake?
Then you need a lobotomy!
Haha. I like ice cream cake…does that count? Regular cake is too sweet for me.
I just remembered I like carrot cake! With real cream cheese icing. YUM.
Well then imagine a king size carrot cake… Mmmm!
Cake sucks, seriously, most over rated food ever, and I’m putting my vote in for a double bed.
Icing is good though. So long as there is a ratio of 80:20 (80 being the icing), I like cake.
oh no, i hate icing. once when i was five i got my hands on icing and i squirt the whole damn thing in my mouth and then i threw up everywhere and ever since i can’t eat icing….
I question the cake AND I icing you all eat, and I enter that I could probably find both a cake and an icing that everyone likes.
my throw up was canary yellow – it was so weird
^
thats how you know its bad cake
i’m not gonna lie it happened more than once, i think there was kelly green puke once too. you know those big tubes of frosting you can by at the grocery store? i kept eating those. and then i dunno something hit me, like all of a sudden, i didn’t want to puke anymore and i could stomach any frosting. i went cold turkey. to this day i don’t touch much of it. if i do i need a LOT of cake. the frosting-cake ration needs to be like 1 part frosting and 20 parts cake on the fork
(i can picture my parents arguing about it
– take the frosting away from her
– no way, this is fun to watch
– she’s going to make herself sick
– it’ll teach her a lesson
– this is cruel
– but look it worked!
oh god those are the WORST. i know what goes in them. its not yummy.
one of these days ill bring you cupcakes or something with italian meringue buttercream- my personal favorite.
You must read this:
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/10/god-of-cake.html
haha cute!
confession: i don’t really like cake that much either.
I dunno, if you have a king size bed, but don’t need the extra room, you can just snuggly-sleep in the middle. Similarly, if you have a tv in the bedroom you can always choose to turn it off. See, no need for debate!
No, TV’s don’t belong in the bedroom. It totally kills the mood. If I could ban smart phones from the bedroom, I’d be much happier. But, try convincing Mr. Othy of that.
Well, I don’t even own a tv right now, so clearly I’m not gonna argue.
That sounded snotty, but I just mean I don’t have a dog in the fight. I was just playing…well, the opposite of devil’s advocate?
Haha, I feel completely opposite (not surprisingly). King sized beds make us sleep far apart from each other, even if we try to stay in the middle. So it’s like a divider for us. And no tv in the bedroom was one of my prewedding stipulations.
*or* maybe it’s your husband taking advantage of the king size bed to get some space? dun dun dun.
[i’m kidding, you snuggle bunnies]
i’m kidding, you snuggle bunnies! <— I had written that in brackets and it got removed from my post!
sureeeeeeee
i did watch! [test test]
whoops!
point is, maybe your snuggle bunny needs some space!
gonna do another test with the word test in parenthesis
(test test)
well fuck. i give up. fine, i’m not kidding!
I love a king, too. I want to be as far away from Dave as possible while sleeping. I need to be able to more freely.
I like a king sized bed when I’m solo. Which I am always. I don’t fully understand how to integrate another person into said king sized bed…which is perhaps why I remain single.
I don’t mind falling asleep close, but once I’m sleeping, I don’t want someone all up in my ass. We never make it a whole night in bed together anyone though, so I guess I would be fine in a queen.
Yeah, I have a twin bed at my house & my boyfriend sleeps on a futon at his (& when I sleep over, we don’t even open it…) so we basically have NO clue what to do in a king-size bed. We always wind up piled onto one side, sharing a pillow. haha
Fab, that’s adorable.
I have a twin too. If I had the money I would have a full, but I love snuggling close, especially in the winter. Here’s hoping I have a guy to snuggle up to! 🙂
Haha, when we went from a queen to a long it was like “hello over there! How’s the weather?” Haha. But now it’s just like a regular bed. But I do like the king better, it’s like the best of both worlds- you still can snuggle if you want, and *usually* there aren’t any arguments over space.
Actually I only have a full size right now and it kind of sucks to have so little space when Ross is here. We used to have 2 full size beds next to each other at our old place, which was amazing, haha.
Ahhmygawd, I want a king sized bed. I am almost 6′ and Benjamin is 6’4″… soo… we have a lot of limbs. It was so nice to not be tangled up in one another and still able to stretch out.
kings are a must have for tall people. all you shorties can have your queens
A king is an absolute must in our house, Arturo is really tall, and also a lot of nights we end up with at least one of the girls with us. They are also both really tall, and move around like crazy when they sleep.
Also, because I haven´t made a good friends reference in a while, this debate totally reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0eStJlnNKo
Bahaha, I thought of the same thing. I missed you jk.
Awww 🙂
moving around! yes, i’m much better than when i was younger, but it’s still pretty bad. even up until high school i would end up sleeping the opposite way i started, feet towards the head of the bed, etc almost every night. even now i tend to sleep diagonally, which works on a king sized bed since i’m only 5’4″ so I can fit basically just on my side without getting too far on to M’s side.
Yes! Whenever they sleep with us Arturo usually ends up going to another bed, it´s insane how they turn around! Lately they´ve been sleeping hugging each other, which of course is the cutest thing ever.
WHAAAAT, I have a California king all to myself. I feel trapped in anything smaller.
Completely agree. More is always better when it comes to sleeping real estate.
I always start out with the mindset that cuddling is the awesomest way to fall sleep, but, the reality is……I just wanna effing unfold myself without being all wrapped up like a friggin gordita.
Same thing with waking up, I need space. I need to stretch every muscle in my body before I’m ok with any contact. Rumor has it that I once declined a morning beej – while still asleep – by saying “there’s no way that you can wash all those windows in 10 minutes.”
Change wine to wine + king sized bed and your list is perfect! Because yeah, sleep is important! And if you start to add in extras like two 60 pound dogs your kind sized bed becomes very small. It’s amazing the ability of a 60 pound dog to take up the same amount of room as the average sized adult.
Although a lot might be forgiven for the perfect cheesecake but hold the milk and change it to wine. (Does anyone else hate milk?)
I’m working on 5 now. After being in a relationship for 2 years and living together for a little more than 1 year, it’s become crucial, now more than ever, to have a life outside of each other. It gives us something to talk about when we are together and helps both of us grow in ways we couldn’t do together. Living with a partner has been one of the most difficult adjustments I’ve ever been through and it’s taught me a lot.
Shit, no wonder I’m single. I thought the list of six things was:
1. watch 90’s wrestling for no less than 2 hours a week
2. get really drunk at sporting events and talk to the kids sitting next to you about how their parents always shop at your store.
3. Prepare for the zombie apocalypse, advertise said preparations
4. Be a fan of two really bad sports teams
5. Alternate being really healthy one week, with being disgustingly unhealthy the next week
6. making really sarcastic lists.
You’d win me over with 2-6! That’s pretty much my life!
Damn flames and steelers are making the part of my life that is supposed to be fun, miserable.
Did you know there is a minor league hockey team in Orlando called the Solar Bears??!! I neeeeed some apparel and to go to one of their games asap.
mrmidtwenties, as a fellow Steelers fan, I am feeling your pain so hard right now.
90’s wrestling for the win!
Yes to someone else enjoying 90’s wrestling and to Orlando’s solar bears, how badass would it be if there was such a thing as a solar bear? I picture them as polar bears that can live on the sun, but then come to earth to take over. My imagination is extreme.
The logo is super badass. I’m smitten.
http://www.orlandosolarbearshockey.com/
I’ve got a problem with #3. If I’m going to prepare for the zombie apocalypse, I’m not going to advertise for it. I don’t want everyone to know they can come to my house for supplies.
Don’t worry, they’re probably just coming to your house to eat you.
we’ll just say my plan involves a dump truck with a battering ram on it and the dumper part is filled with motorcycles.
Yeah, I think maybe the most quality you need to be in a successful relationship is not to tie up your entire idea of self-worth and your entire identity in that relationship (or being in a relationship in general).
I say “entire,” because I do think it’s inevitable that some of your self-worth and identity will get wrapped up in the relationship. And that’s not necessarily bad. I peg at least a bit of my self-worth on my performance as a girlfriend: that I’m kind to my boyfriend, do nice things for him, etc, and that practice makes me a better person overall. And my identity has inevitably become partially woven into what we are together. But I still have big parts of myself that belong only to me — I chose to share them, but they’re mine, and they give me the stability and independence to be a good partner and do things that fulfill me, too.
Gah, inarticulate? It’s been a long day
For me three big things for creating and maintaining successful relationships are respect, responsibility, and maturity. If you don’t have those things as a foundation, the relationship really can’t grow very much. There will be some kind of resentment or regret later on.
We have a king sized bed. The dog hogs most of it.
1. Enough self-knowledge to know what you need/desire in a relationship and what you’re able and willing to do for a partner.
2. The ability to speak up about your needs and desires and to really listen to your partner when s/he tells you about theirs.
3. Enough maturity to not sabotage your longterm goals for shortterm satisfaction.
4. The ability to keep yourself happy and balanced (most of the time).
5. The ability to keep things in perspective: Having fun in spite of difficulties.
6. The ability to make a leap of faith and be vulnerable, in spite of the dangers.