Marriage is a beautiful and exciting time, but it can also be stressful if you don’t come prepared. This article will share some ideas of what you can expect to come up during your marriage, so you’re not caught off guard and ready to talk about them.
1. Sort Out Financial Matters
One of the biggest concerns that couples have when they decide to tie the knot is how they will handle their finances. Sometimes they will put off this discussion because it’s not the most enjoyable one, but it’s crucial to have it as soon as possible.
How will you both handle debt? Will you have a joint bank account? What about setting aside savings for the future, such as a home, raising kids, or retirement? All of these are topics that you should have a conversation about early on because it will save a lot of headaches if you have to figure them out when problems arise.
2. Learn How To Handle Conflict
Speaking of problems, fights and disagreements in relationships will happen from time to time, and some couples will have them more than others, but how you and your partner deal with them is what truly matters.
Avoid blaming and criticizing each other and try to have a healthy and productive dialogue that aims to solve issues. Often, this can mean taking accountability for your own actions, and this isn’t always easy to accept, but you will need to if you want to have an open and trusting marriage.
3. Keep Spending Time Together
Just because you’re planning to get married soon doesn’t mean that you should stop dating – it’s essential that you always make time to do activities together every day. It doesn’t need to be anything extravagant; as long as you’re talking and enjoying each other’s company, you’re doing it right.
Spending time can be at home too; you don’t need to go out every day to maintain closeness. For example, you can watch your favorite TV shows or movies, prepare meals, go for a walk, and achieve great results, but be sure to spice things up every so often.
4. Be Open To Talk About Expectations
In order for marriages to function correctly as a team, everyone involved should always be on the same page, and a lot of things can be resolved before getting up to the altar and saying your vows together.
Do you both want to have kids? Will you both be working, or will one of you stay home? How will household duties be managed? These are all examples of things that can be sorted out beforehand. Importantly, expectations that provide the foundation for your relationship like respect, trust, affection, and communication must be maintained to preserve intimacy for years to come.
5. Set Your Boundaries
Although marriages are a union, that doesn’t mean that you are no longer an individual person; you still have your own thoughts, feelings, and opinions on matters, but you have to communicate them clearly to ensure they are respected.
For example, you both might agree not to look through each other’s personal belongings, such as your phones and wallets. It can also involve things like having basic courtesy when talking to each other, even when arguing, not hiding spending habits, and even having friends and family members over during inappropriate times.
6. Have Flexibility
Marriage involves making compromises, and during this time, it’s possible that you might have even more responsibilities than ever before, and your schedules will be tight and not line up as well as they used to when you were dating, despite living together.
Therefore, it’s essential that you and your partner communicate your needs and work together to make your lives easier, and sometimes this can mean babysitting, cleaning up the house, and taking care of other tasks on your “days off.”
7. Look For Role Models
Do you have any people around you that are setting an excellent example of what a happy and healthy marriage looks like? If so, you could try to look to theirs for guidance and even ask them for advice.
Couples who have been married for decades have a lot of wisdom due to years of experience, so you can make friends with an older couple, you and your partner can learn a lot. Of course, if your parents have been happily married, this could be a good place to look first.
8. Find Premarital Counseling
Having a second opinion from a third party can be extremely helpful, and luckily, there are many professionals who are licensed specifically to help people build a strong foundation needed for a healthy marriage as well as assisting them with solving issues that are happening now and can very well appear in the future.
By finding a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), you can find a lot of advice and work on specific skills, especially communication, which are needed to help manage conflict and foster intimacy in the relationship.
Additional Marriage Resources
If you are looking for more information on what you can do to have the happiest marriage possible, you can visit BetterHelp today to find more articles like this one that is centered around marriage, as well as related ones like love, intimacy, friendship, and more.
BetterHelp can also assist you with their bank of articles full of professional advice to help you throughout your marriage to help answer questions and situations as they arise.
Conclusion
Marriage isn’t necessarily easy, and it will take effort on the part of both of you, but by following these tips, you give you and your partner the best opportunity to have an enjoyable and successful marriage.
All of it consists of having open communication, which will need to be preserved throughout the course of your marriage. Most conflicts can be attributed to poor listening and communication skills, and by working on them and focusing on the important details, you can prevent a lot of unnecessary headaches and extra stress down the road.
