I’m excited for this year as I begin looking at more ways to improve my relationship with my Mr. Right and as I share our struggles and success with you in hopes you will improve your marriage/relationship too!

I’m by no means a marriage expert but I certainly can share my story knowing there is always something to learn.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

Last Wednesday I shared a post about resolutions for couples. Well, this week is sort of a follow up to that. As I read through the list of resolutions I thought about ways to implement them.

Several of them were self explanatory, others are going to take some thought, if I’m honest.

I’ve never been one to make resolutions, I prefer to call them life changes and as we all know, change is never easy!

I’ve done a little research and have discovered it takes quite a bit longer than the old myth of 21 days to form a new habit. It actually takes 66 days or about 2 months according to Phillippa Lally a health psychology researcher at University College London (that sounds like a long time…*sigh*)

But, anything worth doing is worth working for, right? RIGHT!

Today’s Pinterest post from my Relationship Board is  7 things couples who stay together do often   from howdoesshe.com (that fits right in with our New Year life changes, doesn’t it?)

As I read through 7 things couples do, I bounced back and forth between that and the 25 resolutions.

Here’s what I came up with: many of the 25 resolutions walked hand in hand with one of the 7 things couples who stay together do. 

I’m going to list the resolution and then give the correlating things ‘stick to it couples’ do.

Resolutions are bold and in black/ 7 things couples who stay together tips are bold and in green

Here we go!

Life Changing Habits for Couples Who Want to Stay Together

Life changing habit (couple resolution) no. 3 is to communicate thoroughly: Couples who stay together listen, process, and act; which is essentially effective, active listening. It’s important to not only talk to but listen to our partners and listen well. I for one am guilty of preparing my next statement instead of actually hearing what my Mr. Right is saying. Not good.

Life Changing habit no. 6 – have special date nights correlates with joking from the 7 things post. If we’re making time to be together, odds are we’re going to find something to laugh about together. Mr. Right and I are not always diligent about ‘dating’ or joking with on another, but I bet it would ease some of the tensions when there are some.

Life Changing habit no. 7 – Make an extra effort once a week to do something special in your spouses love language. Yep, one of the 7 things couples who stay together do is to work every day to do something that will make your spouse happy. To me, that means I am doing things that make my Mr. Right feel loved. I know his love languages and I know those things make him happy.

 

Are you seeing how these two posts are going hand-in-hand? I figured you would! After all I have some of the best readers EVER!

Life Changing habit no. 9 – Cultivate a new hobby together is walking side by side with spending quality time together which is one of the 7 things couples who stay together do. Mr Right and I have been seeking something we can do together, just us. We’ve come up empty handed so far, but I have faith!

Life Changing habit no. 12 – Give up one of your spouses pet peeves about you. Or let go of one of your pet peeves about your spouse. What might this look like as a couple who stays together? Funny you should ask because one of the things couples who stay together do is to compromise. What better way to compromise than to give up a pet peeve in either direction. We’ve been practicing this and I have to say it does make a difference.

Life Changing Habit no. 14 – Say two positive things to your spouse before saying any constructive criticism. If I am saying positive things to Mr Right I am following yet another of the 7 things by complimenting him. We can’t spend all of our time complaining. Can you imagine if all we heard every time someone spoke to us was that of what we were doing wrong? Good grief! I’d be miserable. Well, as a wife I can get pretty bad at complaining.

Life Changing Habit no. 23 – Practice what you preach. It is easy to point out what others are doing or not doing, but let the tables be turned and we are not so eager to see how we may be doing the same things. At this point we need to apologize for our blindness to our own mistakes. I know I’ve told Mr Right to sweep his own porch before he tries to sweep mine. Truth is, I need to be sweeping my own porch before I look for the dirt under his feet.

Let’s Wrap This Up

To wrap this up, I’m seeing that most of the things I want to add to my marriage over this next year are all things that longevity in relationships require! Go ME!! & Go US!!

I’m ready, are you?