Love and friendship: Why being friends is important to your romance

It’s no secret that learning how to be friends with your wife, husband, boyfriend or girlfriend is a key ingredient in a successful romantic relationship or marriage.  Unfortunately, however, many couples concentrate too much on romance and not enough on friendship; which, ironically, can be a great way to stifle a romantic atmosphere and speed along a breakup or divorce.

Is Romance Tracker really telling you that you should decrease the amount of old-fashioned romance in your relationship and concentrate on other things?  Well, sort of.  In instances where romance is abundant but friendship is lacking, sometimes it can be healthy to take a step back from the roses and love letters to bolster another area that’s just as important to your overall happiness: friendship.

The definition of a friend is something that every human being innately understands, but sometimes it’s good to remind yourself of what friendship is when building a relationship with your sweetheart.  A friend is someone who you can laugh with and tell secrets to without fearing repercussions; a friend is someone who supports you almost unconditionally and allows you to be yourself; and a friend is someone with whom you can share your favorite hobbies, pastimes and interests.

If these are qualities that are absent in your relationship, it might do you some good to concentrate on becoming better friends with your significant other.  You may never be best friends with your sweetheart, but a relationship that focuses only on textbook romance or physical love, while ignoring simple friendship, will be less successful and more vulnerable to problems in the long run.

So, how do you become better friends with your sweetheart?  Well, learning to have a sense of humor helps, as does making sure that you don’t take anything too seriously.  And learning about your significant other’s interests and hobbies is another great way to build friendship, as well.

Becoming better friends with your sweetheart may take a lot of time and effort, but it’s a surefire way to make your relationship stronger.  So what are you waiting for?  Set aside the romance for a while and concentrate on being buddies.  Your sweetheart will thank you for it!