The 5 key areas of conflict in relationships: Work (in and out of the house)
It is easy to get caught up in the demands of life to find we are living our lives narrowly focusing on work or home, and we forget or neglect ourselves and our marriage. Don't allow the daily grind to become the focus to the exclusion of your marriage.
Finances, Work (in and out of the house), Sex, In Laws and Children are the five big areas that dominate conflict in most relationships. Ensuring timely and open communication and pragmatic approaches to discussing issues that arise will ensure our relationship is sustained for the long-term.
The most important thing you can start doing is looking after yourself by focusing on these five areas. You don't have to get it right the first time. This is part of life's journey of learning and developing. You will get there if you are willing to invest the time and effort. Be proactive and do this for your marriage today.
2. Work: At the end of one's career or life, no one ever said: 'I wish I had have spend more time in the office.'
Balance is key. For marriage, it is essential that we continually review and draw our attention to our relationship with our partner to ensure an upward spiral of growth, change, and continuous improvement. The importance of renewal in our lives can not be underestimated. Learning, growing and developing ourselves and our capabilities is the process through which marital harmony is made possible.
Within the house, the demands can be consuming. A practical approach is to list all you weekly household tasks and allocate ownership for each. Many of our expectations about task allocation will be based on our family of origin and who undertook certain tasks in our childhood.
Discuss the task allocation that occurred in your family of origin and understand that there are ingrained assumptions etched into out brains - who did what and when. The challenge here is to uncover those assumptions and rescript an approach that works for your marriage. Remain open to change and decide an approach that is balanced for both you and your partner.
Through continued commitment and loyalty we can tackle the ups and downs of our marriage together.
Tune in next week for more tips and ideas related to the 5 key areas of conflict in relationships.
Marriage and Relationship Education is a learning opportunity, much like you would do in any other important life event. Check out the video for couples on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xyuUl-JnIhM.
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Written by Shane Smith