romantic relationships

 romantic relationships

Relationships are part of every human beings life and take a lot of patience and sacrifice to cultivate and nurture. People are seldom involved in various relationships as there are various aspects to a person’s life. The first relationship that a person is introduced in at birth is the family relationship which comprise of parents and siblings. This becomes the major part of the person’s life in their early and mid development ages. Ones a person grows out of infancy and is able to walk around and relate to their external surrounding. They are able to freely interact with other people within the surrounding. This forms the person’s social relationship which is an expansion of the first relationship and consists of relatives and friends. These relationship marks a learning process as the person is able to interact with other people within the society. These interactions further prepare the person for a more complex relationship which is the romantic relationships which require commitments and comes with responsibilities. While romantic relationships are important as they appeal to the emotional aspect of the human being, it can be characterized by a series of conflicts; hence it requires random communication to be able to be nurtured.

Romantic relationships appeal to the emotional aspect of a human being hence requires effort from both parties to nurture. Emily and I met in our first year of high school during the English class. She looked conservative from the way she was dressed leaving nothing to chance which could not be said for some of the other ladies within the class. I immediately developed my conclusions about her as one who was from a noble family and had good upbringing. She also looked quite principled from the way she interacted with the people within the class. A lady of few words she was. I did not really have a keen interest on her as we did not quite have much in common other than attending the same school and class. I used to sit at the back of the class and she was somewhere in the middle of the class.

Two months into the semester, we had not had any physical or verbal interaction. I am not sure if she noticed my existence in the class but she was quite hard to unseen due to her unique dressing which made her stand out from the rest of the ladies within the class. My first integration with Emily was during a class discussion where the teacher had grouped us in groups of four students. My performance in English was quote impressive and the teacher made me the leader of my group so as to be able to coordinate the discussion and helps my colleagues understand the language where applicable. While we were interacting during the discussion, I noticed that behind Emily’s unique dressing that had most people feel intimidated was a tender and humble soul that was not selective in interaction and associated freely with other people. I established this from the way she spoke to us during the class discussions. Emily and I had a specific liking towards poetry which was the cause of our bond. We began spending more time together after the class discussions which allowed us to learn more significant things about each other as communication between us improved tremendously. Over time we began sharing information at a personal level. Emily was a good listener and a keen person who was able to tell if I was being bothered by an issue which made me like her even more. She became my confidant and I became hers and eventually the bond of our interaction became stronger and we were soon in a romantic relationship before we knew it. The themes of our conversation took more personal approach as we became freer with one another. Though we began off as two distinct individuals, we soon realized that the only difference we had was on the physical appearance.

Emily and I have a more open relationship which allows us to be able to discuss most of our issues freely with one another. This could be the reason as to why our relationship has lasted this long despite having faced a few challenges along the way. Emily and I prefer direct communication to virtual communication which we only use when we are away from each other. Direct communication is important because it increases the bond between people as it is able to allow people to be able to have more personal and meaningful discussions. Having more direct communication means you are able to prioritize for your relationship and make time to be able to spend more time with each other which is a sign of commitment in the relationship. It also gives you the chance to be able to know some of the things that are going on in each other’s life. We are also able to use non-verbal communication such us hugging and kissing to show affection for each other. Whenever she frowns, I am able to tell that she is experiencing some issues hence I make efforts to ensure that she feels much better by being there for her in whichever way necessary. Whenever she smiles or laughs I know that she is having a good day and things are working perfectly for her. Understanding this figurative communication makes the relationship stronger as you are able to handle some of the issues without engaging in verbal communication. My communications with Emily are different than my communication with other people because I am freer with her and I take much consideration on how my words and action are able to affect her. While we come from different cultural backgrounds, we are able to respect one another’s cultural believes by learning and appreciating the similarities and differences between these believes. Perception also plays a significant role in the strengthening of our relationship. My perception of a relationship is based on my childhood upbringing where I experienced the kind of fulfilling relationship my parents had as they supported each other in raising me and my siblings. For this reason I hold relationships in high esteem and realize that for a relationship to work, both parties have to be willing to make sacrifices.

Conflict is a part of every working relationship and overcoming these conflicts make the relationship grow stronger. One significant conflict we had was when I suggested that she should move into my apartment an idea that she did not welcome. This made me feel a form of rejection as I had assumed that after all the time we had spent together, we had developed a more stronger bond and moving in together would be a great step in our relationship as it would increase the amount of time we would spent together and also allow us to keep track on what was going on in each person’s life. She argued that we were not ready to take that particular step at the moment. However, we had a mature discussion that enables me to understand her point of view. According to her culture, it was considered unethical for a lady to move in with a man before the two parents of the involved parties had met and given their blessings to the relationship. Moving in meant a formal introduction was needed to the parents of both parties. To facilitate our moving in together, we began preparations on how we would arrange for the meeting of parents from both sides. Through communication, we were able to solve this conflict in a way that improved our understanding of each other’s cultural values and I was able to learn more about her culture. It also improved interpersonal understanding among us as we realized that conflicts can be easily solved through communication.

While relationships are a significant part of every person’s life, the survival of the relationship solely depends on the efforts of the parties involved in the relationship to be able to nurture the relationship. For a relationship to work, both parties must be actively involved and take initiative towards the survival of the relationship. While relationships may experience a series of conflicts from time to time, the parties involved should be able to find a more civilized and mature way of handling these conflicts. The strength of the relationships depends on the overcoming of the conflicts. Communication is a significant aspect of every relationship and should be highly embraced.