Relationship Habits to Practice This Year

Originally published: 1/4/21 | UPDATED: 12/27/21 for relevancy and accuracy.

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With the new year comes those New Year’s resolutions. We’ve heard them all before, the typical goals of losing weight and eating healthier, getting better at saving money, taking better care of your skin, and so on and so forth. Most habits and goals for the new year often involve some form of bettering ourselves, but what about those relationships around us? Shouldn’t we work on bettering them, too?

The answer is: yes. If you’re going to commit to working on yourself, committing to working on your relationships is tantamount as well. Think about it: if you’re going to work on the relationship you have with yourself and your body, why wouldn’t you want to work on your relationship with someone else important to you?

Below I’ve broken down the relationship habits to commit to for 2022. These are simple habits that you can implement into your life with ease. These habits will help you better prioritize your relationship and prevent it from slipping into the background; they’ll also help you and your partner stay connected, strengthen your bond, and make communication between the two of you easier. The truth is all relationships take work (yes, including the one with yourself), and though relationships are a job, they should be a fun job. Commit to these habits in 2022, and watch your relationship flourish.

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Relationship habits to commit to in 2022:

1. Talk more.

Taking the time to talk to your partner every day is so important. Whether it be about big things like how to deal with a family dilemma or approach their boss to ask for a raise, or small things like how their day has been and how they’re feeling, it’s important that your line of communication stays open. When you stop talking to each other, your relationship starts to crumble. This year, make the effort to talk to your S.O more about anything and everything.

2. Practice healthy communication.

In addition to talking more every day, work on practicing healthy communication. Not only does this include talking more about anything and everything, but it also includes speaking to one another with respect, taking the time to listen to each other, working through any conflict calmly and as a team, and a willingness and ability to compromise when needed.

Healthy communication also means being vulnerable with your partner, and being honest about what you need. Regardless of how in sync you are with your partner, when it comes down to it, neither one of you is a mind reader. Not letting your S.O know what you need from them or the relationship doesn’t give them the opportunity to help you find it or give it to you. Keeping things in not only does yourself and the relationship a disservice, but it also can build resentment.

5. Stay connected in small ways every day.

It’s not just the big things that matter, it’s the small things, too. Staying connected in small ways every day will help nurture the relationship and deepen emotional intimacy. This can be done through things such as sending your partner a loving text letting them know that you’re thinking of them, leaving a note for them to find on their way to work, going to bed together, eating dinner together, going on walks together, or enjoying a cup of coffee together in the morning.

Additionally, small acts of touch such as cuddling, hugs, or kisses are also ways to reconnect daily. Acts of touch are very meaningful, and help strengthen relationships.

6. Show appreciation daily.

Over time, it’s easy to forget how much something means to us when we’ve gotten used to it. Which is why this year, you should make it a habit to let your partner know how much you appreciate them daily. This can be thanking them for helping you out or doing something around the house, doing something to help them, giving them a quick foot rub, etc. Expressing gratitude towards your partner daily is a good habit to get into because it shows that you recognize their actions, and that you’re not taking them for granted.

8. Make time for intimacy.

Much like making time for your relationship is a key component of a healthy relationship, the same goes for intimacy, too. While physical intimacy isn’t everything in a healthy relationship, it’s still an important part. The longer you go without it, the less often you think about it, and the less important it becomes. Make time for intimacy with your partner this year.

Of course there will be times when, again, life happens, and our desire for sex won’t be as strong. It’s perfectly normal, and nothing to be ashamed of—it happens to all of us. If you’re experiencing low libido, try using these tips to give it a little boost, or enlist the help of some aphrodisiacs.