My relationship is kind of different from others. Usually people who are in relationship communicate a lot and hang out a lot. I hardly meet my girlfriend and I don't even call and talk to her. Of course I message her every day but not for a long time. There have been days where I don't talk to her and give any updates. We are still fine with such a long distance relationship. I should not say it is a long distance because she lives less than 500 meters from my house. But I still say that because we don't meet at all in spite of being near. In India we have a rule that only after marriage we get to hang out with our wife. Even though there is no strict rule here, it is kind of awkward to go out with a girl who is not my wife yet. And we respect that tradition.
I have heard this question from many of my friends as well. People usually think that for relationships communication is very important but other than that I would say understanding is more important. I have a good understanding with my partner and the same applies to her as well. Some of the below parameters make me confidently say that my relationship will continue.
Setting expectation
For any relationship to sustain life long, the expectation should be very clear. In some relationships people expect a lot which will ultimately lead to disappointment and gradually become a problem in the relationship. If the expectation are set clearly the relationship will go very smooth. It is always good to setup expectation in a very low level. Only then even if you exceed expectation your partner will be very happy. If you initially set the expectation very high and struggle to meet the expectation it can be quite challenging for the partner to understand and adapt to it. In my case, I have clearly set expectation that I will not remember important dates. Honestly that is not my thing at all. As I have set the expectation clearly, she doesn't really care if I don't wish her for her birthdays.
Being honest
I make sure that I try to be as honest as possible. Even if I make any mistake I honestly accept it and speak to my partner clearly on that. Just because I'm very honest about everything it doesn't mean that there will not be any problems. If you project yourself as a complete honest guy, even then their expectation will be very high. If at all you miss communicating something to them, they get disappointed. Considering that in mind, I combine both being honest and setting expectation together. I make sure that I don't really do anything that I will not be able to tell her. This is something that I clearly have in mind. Even if I flirt with some other girl, I say that to her. But you have to be lucky to have a girlfriend who will be ready to accept you even if you flirt with other girls. But the point here is, being honest. Even if I do thing that she wont be really liking, I say that to her without any hesitation. This will have a good feeling in her mind that my guy is very honest with me and that strengthens the relationship.
Understanding between each other
There should be a proper understanding between each other. It need not necessarily be the likes and dislikes but the wavelength in which your partner think should match with the wavelength in which you think. No relationship will sustain without a proper understanding between each other. If your partner need some time, then you should be willing to give them the time and if your partner needs you, you should be available to provide a helping hand. These kind of understanding will help in sustaining the relationship for a longer period of time. In some relationships the partner will not even ask questions. They will blindly believe each other. That helps in strong bonding.
Unconditional Love
Of course finally love is very important. Without the love, any relationship can easily fail. Though the couple can cheat each other for some period of time even though they don't have the chemistry, it will not last longer. One day it will erupt and the relationship will easily break up. I feel that love is the major bonding glue of all the other things. If you go and ask my partner why she loves me, she will not have proper answers. The reasons she will give will be a made up thing. If you ask me the same question, I will also think a lot and struggle a lot to provide you some convincing answer. But we know clearly that we have so much of love on each other even though we don't express it quite often. That love will make the relationship continue forever even after we become old.
The above points are the things that I rely on and the reason why I strongly believe that my relationship will continue forever. Some of the above points can look theoretically very impressive and interesting but there are definitely practical difficulties in implementing them. If you find a way to implement them, then I'm sure there will not be any problems in the relationship.
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