ABCs of A Healthy Marriage
2019-01-22

Marriage can be an exciting and new experience for some. However, as exciting as it is, your marriage is more than the “next phase” of your relationship. Marriage also requires acceptance, a bond that’s consistent and strong as well as commitment from both of you. 

While there are many formulas for a healthy marriage, the following ABCs serve as important factors for a healthy and successful marriage.

A for Acceptance 

Considering that your partner and you are about to tie the knot or have done so, it attests that you’ve accepted each other for who you are. This ability and choice to accept your partner should also be carried into your marriage. 

While this goes without saying, accepting your partner for who they are throughout your marriage is the basis of a strong and healthy marriage. Your partner and you will undoubtedly grow and change as individuals and as a couple during your marriage. As this growth process takes place, we should constantly and consistently show our support and accept of who they’ve grown into.

B for Bond

Accepting your partner alone isn’t enough. Together with acceptance, both of you should also have a strong bond with each other. This bond is crucial to making a marriage last, fostering a relationship that facilitates closeness and intimacy that will result in a satisfying marriage. 

Without a bond, regardless of your acceptance, that sense of closeness and intimacy with your partner will deteriorate in time to come. Your relationship will become stale and you might become bored. That’s the reason why couples should always make that effort to do things together to maintain that strong bond that you have when you first started out with. 

Set time aside each day to tell each other about your day or spend weekends on dates or partaking in activities together. While it may be easier to fall back on just staying home and relaxing, take the effort to go out with each other to build and maintain your bond. 

C for Commitment

Commitment is a fundamental trait of every relationship. However, there is more to commitment than just staying true to your spouse and the relationship. 

You should also be committed to being understanding, to forgive, to love and to communicate regularly. When you commit yourselves to these factors as well, your relationship will constantly bloom and not run stale.

While it may not seem much, often times couples who get comfortable and fall into a rhythm tend to not put in as much effort or commitment in these areas of the relationship. When this happens, your relationship and marriage may not be able to weather conflicts and crisis.

While these fundamentals of a relationship are important, there may be moments where living by them can be difficult, especially during arguments or misunderstandings. 

In such cases, if both of you are unable to come to a solution by yourselves, it is beneficial to seek the help of a professional to guide you through it. For more information on building and maintaining a healthy marriage, contact REACH Counselling Service at 6801 0730 or at [email protected].

REACH Counselling Service aims to build enduring marriages through marital counselling and marital work, including Marriage Preparation Programmes.