Keeping the relationship with my partner vivid over time

Most couples experience intense feelings in the first period of their relationship: love, passion, and the need for the constant presence of the other in their lives.

No matter how strong the feelings are at the beginning of every relationship, they usually diminish over time, and many great loves end so ingloriously. But some manage to preserve all these beautiful feelings alive until the end of their lives. This is how you see older adults, who may have spent many decades together, still holding each other’s hands and looking at each other lovingly, like teenagers in love. What keeps the relationship alive?

Relationships are like a living organisms. They want constant care. If you let them, they will end. Some important key points to keep the connection alive and intense over time are:

1. We make time for each other—time just for us.
2. I show interest in the other person. I want to know everything that makes them happy or sad. I want to know everything about their successes and show curiosity and interest in everything important to them.
3. I systematically give them positive comments and show appreciation for everything they do and offer to our family and me, no matter how small and ordinary they are.
4. We try to do new things together and share new experiences.
5. I am tender and do not neglect to touch, hug, or give myself physically and mentally to them.
6. I express myself, reveal myself, and do not pretend or try to impress.
7. I see disagreements as a cause of the development and growth of the relationship, and I use them for acceptance, improvement, and development of myself, my partner, and the relationship.
8. I remember myself and take time for myself, doing everything that makes me feel satisfied and happy.

If I put my relationship with the other person high in my priorities, take care of it, and don’t forget it, the more likely the relationship will not only stay alive but grow and flourish over time. And the moment will come when I look into my partner’s eyes and feel like an in-love teenager, even if 50 years have passed since I first met them!