How to Avoid a Communication Breakdown in Your Relationship

From the outside looking in, relationships seem pretty straightforward. Once you couple up, you have a built-in person to watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine with and wrap your arms around at night. But the hard truth is that relationships take work. Any relationship therapist will tell you that approximately 90 percent of having a successful, healthy relationship is about communication.

So what happens if you never learned how to effectively communicate, especially when it comes to telling your partner how you feel (about them, about your shitty day at work, about the way you feel when they make googly eyes at that one celebrity with the rock-hard abs...)?

6 Things You Should Do With Your Wife As Soon As You Wake Up

When your alarm goes off, the first thing you probably think of is your to-do list: Get the kids ready for school. Pick up your dry cleaning. Turn in that presentation to your boss.

But there’s one major thing you’re probably forgetting: the person right next to you.

Sure, you think about your partner. You send each other texts throughout the day, and you both put in the effort for an occasional date night. But do you actually take the time every day to truly pause and connect?

The morning is the perfect time for this—not only because what you do first thing can set the tone for the rest of the day, but because you haven’t already gotten bogged down with other responsibilities.