Healthy Relationships

To keep your relationship on track, consider the following tips:

Build a foundation with trust and respect.

Trust and respect are the foundation of every healthy relationship whether they are friends, family, a boyfriend, or girlfriend.  Being respectful means you think about others feelings and values before you act.  You treat them how you would want to be treated. Honesty is the tool with which trust is built. 

Talk about your feelings.

When something is bothering you, talk about it, don't hold it in. Put your emotions out in the open to avoid fights and hurt feelings. Stating your emotions also allows you to work through what you are feeling, instead of letting them get bottled up and coming out later in the relationship.

Have healthy boundaries.

You need to identify your boundaries, communicate them with others, and be strong enough to stick to them.

Encourage each other.

Build each other up, give compliments, and talk positively about one another.

Be supportive of their other relationships.

If your friend has other close & healthy relationships, don't be jealous. Instead, get to know their friends; and look for opportunities to develop other friendships of your own.

Handle disagreements calmly.

Disagreements will happen; it's a part of life. Typically no one person is always right, and no one is always wrong. So try to meet in the middle after listening to their side of the story, or sometimes it's ok to agree to disagree.