When you go from dating to being in a relationship, there are at least 5 stepping stones couples go through when establishing a deep bond and connection. As you may already know, relationships ebb and flow. They evolve as you grow both as individuals and as a couple.
That means there will be a few challenges along the way but if you manage to walk over all the stepping stones hand in hand, there’s a high chance this relationship will work. Now, what are the 5 stepping stones in a relationship? That’s exactly what we’ll explain here today.
5 Stepping stones in a relationship:
1. Transition from physical attraction to an emotional connection:
Once you move past the physical attraction and you decide to enter a relationship together, emotional connection is the very first stepping stone. Romantic relationships can’t go anywhere without intimacy and compability; so you should focus on building an emotional and intellectual or mental bond.
However, for that to happen, you both need to be emotionally available and open up to one another. There’s no room for walls, not if you want to make the relationship work in the long term.
If you hold back on getting closer to your partner, you won’t be able to create that emotional connection and bond that a romantic relationship needs to survive. So, help each other, communicate openly, and open yourselves to one another.
2. Overcome any insecurities that rise to the surface:
The next stepping stone is not a pleasant one, but getting through it means you’ll become more confident in your relationship and each other. Once the emotional connection is established, there comes a time when your insecurities start to rise to the surface. When not handled properly, this can cause a drift in the relationship, but it doesn’t have to.
At this point, you start to become self-conscious and doubtful of your partner’s feelings and almost everything you do in the relationship. It’s perfectly normal to experience this, but getting through it together will make your relationship that much stronger.
Help each other by communicating effectively, being open about your insecurities, and tackling them together.
3. Take off your rose-tinted lenses and see reality:
There comes a time in any relationship when you start to face challenges and the rose-tinted lenses come off. All couples have unique hurdles to get through, but it’s important to get through them together. Conflict is nothing but an opportunity to grow closer together, become better partners, and get to know each other better.
You won’t always see eye to eye and, sometimes, you’ll even disappoint one another. However, you must be able to develop your own conflict resolution tactics together.
Being in love doesn’t mean you can’t see each other’s flaws or that you’re not allowed to have them, it means you should love each other regardless and find ways to compromise where you can to create harmony.
4. Staying strong in the face of adversity:
As humans, we experience a lot of difficult situations in life. When you’re in a relationship, you get to go through those situations with someone by your side. Now, that doesn’t mean things will be easy. Some situations will test your relationship and one of the stepping stones is deciding to stay strong.
Whether you’re facing financial hardship, have to be away from each other due to work, experience illness, or any other challenging thing that life has thrown at you, you have to decide to stay strong together. It won’t just happen and you won’t just get over things because you love each other. You have to actively work together as a team.
5. Finding complete and unyielding love:
Once you go through the aforementioned stepping stones, it will lead you to the deepest connection and the most undying connection a couple can have. You’ve been committed from the start and you’ve survived through more than you thought was possible. You’ve respected each other’s boundaries and taken care of one another through everything.
As a result, you’ll find yourself in a position where you’re confident in your relationship and your partner, and you’ll know that there’s nothing that can bring you apart. You’ve proven you are each other’s priority and you can continue upholding the values that define your relationship so it can continue growing strong.
Conclusion:
These are the 5 stepping stones all relationships go through. Now, just because you’ve reached the last stepping stone doesn’t mean your relationship can’t continue developing.
There are phases to marriage and every married couple continues to go through these every year. Just because you marry someone doesn’t mean your journey to preserve and protect the love between you has ended. In fact, marriage only means that the real journey has started officially.
Life continues to happen and you will keep facing new situations and obstacles every day, both inside and outside the relationship. However, if you’ve gotten so far as to establish your love and trust for one another, it’s safe to say your relationship has a lot of potential.
Going through all these stepping stones requires mutual love, commitment, and work. Some things will be more challenging than others, but if you’re in it together, you’ll build a healthy, loving, and long-lasting relationship to put all your past relationships to shame.