Relationships get a bad reputation sometimes because they’re not always easy, but usually the most worthwhile things in life aren’t easy.Compromise isn’t always fun, but it’s vital to the success of a relationship for so many reasons:
- It’s not all about you anymore. When you’re single, you can be a little selfish, but that goes away quickly when you enter a serious relationship. For one thing, if the relationship is right, you want to prioritize your partner just as much as yourself. Sometimes it gets lonely at the top for strong women, and finding the right person to share your empire with is amazing. When you find that relationship, you won’t miss being selfish.
- No two people are exactly alike, and that’s okay. Even in a great relationship, you’re bound to find out things about your partner that surprise you. Even if you find out something truly baffling to you, like that they’re a fan of a sports team you dislike or they can’t stand your favorite food, you have to keep in mind that everyone’s different and those type of disagreements don’t have anything to do with how compatible your souls are. You can agree to disagree on the Detroit Pistons and still be happy together.
- Compromise gives you peace. In sitcoms, it seems like couples are constantly bickering. While that may make for entertaining TV, real life relationships shouldn’t be like that. It’s fine if you disagree, but you should be able to compromise on matters that don’t have a huge impact on your lives or relationship. Fighting and bickering with your SO isn’t fun; you’ll both be happier if you come to a peaceful agreement.
- It shows that you’re capable of working together as a team. It’s important to find out how well you work together, especially if you’re considering getting married or having a family together. Your future plans won’t work out if you can’t compromise because you’ll both get sick of fighting to be right, and the final destination on the “I’m always right” train is Splitsville.
- Your love is so much deeper than your differences. Remember how focused you were on your similarities at the beginning of the relationship? You built something wonderful on that foundation, and it’s still there when you inevitably discover your differences. Most importantly, love develops out of the most important kind of compatibility, while minor disagreements are just that: minor. Don’t lose sight of the mountain because you’re too busy scrutinizing the molehill.
- You should strive for more than just your own happiness. The entire point of being in a relationship is that it’s not just you anymore; choosing a partner means that you accept this person into your life fully, even if you don’t understand or agree with all of their views. It also means that you prioritize their happiness as well as your own, and being willing to compromise is a good way to come to mutually agreeable decisions that make both parties happy.
- Compromise is what makes long-term relationships possible. No two people are just so naturally compatible that they’ll never disagree on anything, yet people form long-term relationships every day, and those relationships often last years, sometimes even forever. How is this possible? Compromise is the only way; it’s a means of putting aside your minor disagreements because you know you have the potential to make your love last forever, and the little details of day to day life aren’t important enough to jeopardize that.
