Impact of Communication in Building a Lasting Relationship

Good communication is an essential part of a healthy relationship. It is not only paramount for growth but also essential for building long-lasting and fulfilling relationships. Communication allows you to effectively share feelings, opinions, and expectations. One of the ways to know whether you are compatible with your partner is through communication.

Communication in a relationship is not just all about knowing each other and sharing your feelings. It is also about planning. Your communication should touch every aspect, including career, religion, children, money, etc.?

To improve communication in a relationship both partners need to have an understanding of the different styles of communication. This will help them to pay attention to non-verbal clues and not assume or make their partner guess. Also, respectfully share their needs and feelings, take turns when talking, and listen to each other. The four main communication styles are: passive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, and assertive.?

Passive communicators: Keep their emotions inside, they tend to avoid expressing their feelings, opinions, and needs.?

Aggressive communicators: are loud and intense, criticize, blame and control their partner. A person with this type of communication style values their own needs over the needs of their partners.

Passive-aggressive communicators: avoid conflict and use sarcasm to deflect real communication.?

Assertive communicators: These people are in touch with their emotions and know how to communicate them effectively. They value their own needs as well as the needs of their partner. They use a calm and clear tone of voice and listen well without interrupting their partner.

Having a partner with a communication style that is different from yours is quite common and not necessarily a bad thing. The style of communication we adopt is influenced by the relationships we have.

The impacts of communication in building a lasting relationship are:

• It builds trust: Trust is one of the benefits of communication. It makes you know what your partner can do. Trust is not just built, it is earned. You cannot say that you trust someone you do not know. During my relationship with my husband, I used to ask him questions about the things he has said before to check his recent response. Sometimes, I will see him in a place and call him, to ask where he is. This helped me to know whether he is saying the truth or not.

Don't just accept whatever your partner is saying. Try to find out whether some of what they are saying is true. Is his/her yes really yes! Does he/she hide some things from you, and ignore answering some questions? Communication helps you to know if your partner is worth trusting.?

Do not allow love to stop you from addressing communication gap in your relationship.

• It brings peace and harmony: Good communication in a relationship helps to avoid hurt and sets clear expectations. Ineffective communication often leads to conflict and misunderstanding because, without the right communication skills, your needs remain unmet.

Most conflicts and breakups people experience in relationships are a result of poor communication. It is either their partner does not understand their communication signs or they are not telling their partner about their feelings. The relationship stage is a time to talk about things. Let your partner know how you feel about his behavior, the way he/she talked to you, the kind of friends he/she keeps, expenditures, and everything.

When you are in a relationship where you are scared of expressing yourself, then both of you are not compatible. Leave the relationship to enjoy peace. Sharing your feelings, thoughts, experiences, etc. should be natural whenever you are with your partner. This is because your partner is meant to be your confidant. Most times, I wonder how people succeed in marrying someone they cannot relate to or communicate with. This has led to extra-marital affairs in many homes because poor communication was not properly tackled during the relationship stage.

• It brings Intimacy: Communication helps you to know each other more. It builds a bond and fosters unity. Good communication makes you miss and think about your partner. This is because there is so much to share with him/her. Every time spent talking to each other is cherished. Most times, a day looks too small to stay and talk.

When you are in a relationship with someone too busy to communicate with you, it is a red flag. Try to address it, but if he/she fails to readjust it is advisable to leave. The truth is, when your partner is not sharing his/her feelings, thoughts, etc. with you he is sharing them with someone else or is a passive communicator. This is not healthy for your relationship and needs to be tackled if you must build a lasting relationship.

In conclusion, communication is vital if your relationship must thrive. Adopt it, apply it, and absorb it.