If’ you’re in a serious relationship, you know it. In order to keep the sparkles, you have to work on it all the time. It’s like looking after  a plant. You’ve got to water it and make sure that it gets just the right amount of sunshine every day. Not too much, not too little. You’ve got to keep the measures just right.

I’ve got 13 years of marriage under my belt, so I know what I’m talking about (Lol).

So, I’ve gathered a list of special things that you can do in order to keep your relationship sparks always alive.

• Good communication: This is very important. You give and take, accepting and expecting things from your partner and in turn, they will do the same for you. But you have to communicate about your feelings if you want to keep things flowing. Communicating about the serious stuff that affects you emotionally, that is. If they make a joke about something that matters to you, but if you didn’t consider it a joke at all, you have to let them know. That’s it. If you just keep it to yourself, You may turn things worse in the long run. The patience gets shorter and the feeling will start changing. So keep communicating.

• You both have to set time for each other: Sometimes day-today stuff can get in the way. During evening time, you’ve got so much going on – the dinner, the kids need to be put to bed, you need to take a shower and relax and just sleep after a tiring day at work. But the important thing is – make time for each other! You could have a date night once a week and leave the kids with the babysitter or even meet a couple of times a week on your lunch break, if you two work close to one another.

• Keep the excitement up: Do you have something that you enjoy doing together? Those who play together, stay together. You can try new things together too, like taking a painting class together, or go camping or even a cruise. Just leave the kids with the grandparents or with the babysitter and just go. There are some websites that offer great discounts for fun things to do. I like to use Groupon, for example.

• Messages: If you both are too busy with work all day, make sure to exchange text messages or even email or anything else that makes your mind. Stress is a big thing when it comes to relationships.

• Surprises: Let him/her know your love with a card or a chocolate or anything that may be a surprise. Cooking them breakfast in bed or washing their car can be one of the things that can make them happy and show appreciation.

• Little Stuff doesn’t matter: Don’t dwell on things that you have fought in the past. This will only make you sad. Disagreements can happen and it’s normal. No one is perfect anyway, right?

• Don’t go to bed angry: Going to bed angry or sad will only pile up the bad feelings the next morning.

• Spice it up: The physical side of the relationship is important too. Always kiss each other hello and goodbye! Also sex is good for your health. It’s not about the number of times you do it per week but about connecting to each other in an intimate way.

• Compliments: It’s always a good idea to make your other half know how you feel about their outfit, hair style or the way they smell. This helps to build their self confidence up.

• Stay true to your partner: Rebuilding trust is a painful task to be done. Better to be true and keep your relationship based on trust. Ignoring problems in your relationship will only grow into bigger problems.

• Work as a team: Be a support system for one another. If one is feeling down the other one can help lift things up until they both can work together again.

• Be a positive light: Show your other half how much you love them everyday by your actions. Love is a powerful tool that shows your commitment to your partner.

• Stay healthy together: If your physical state is good, your emotional state will be good too. Eat your fruits and vegetables and keep active.

• Be aware of your fears: you may feel that people are against you but in reality you are afraid of being judged because of your self esteem problems. Your other half is not against you  – being on the defensive side will only make things counter productive.

• Relationships are a give and take. Communication is the key always. These things take time and dedication to master, but once you put them in practice your relationship will steer towards the better.

Do you have any tip that you’d like to include on here? Share with us!

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