Every relationship operates differently. One has to admit, no relationship has exactly the same solutions to it as another, for every person is different. However, there still are different actions that should or should not be taken in any healthy relationship.

Communication is key to ANY healthy relationship. It doesn’t take a doctor, psychologist, or marriage counselor to figure that one out. Yet, so many people fail at it one way or the other.

Technology seems to be one of the largest contributors of problems in relationships, especially for young adults and teens. I see so many of my peers textingand using the internet to communicate with each other. Granted, they are valuable tools for communicating information quickly. They can be, however, damaging to relationships and even friendships.

Texting is a huge NO. Anything important whatsoever about a relationship should not be conversed by text messages. Too many people hide behind texts because it allows them to avoid confronting problems directly. Not only that, but SO many things get misconstrued in text messages because over ninety percent of communication is body language and tone of voice, which text messages exclude the use of either of those methods of portraying true feelings. Use text messages for short, to-the-point statements or questions. Never use text messages in important conversation. Emails and other forms of communication via internet are almost as guilty, and also should not be used to convey important relationship issues.

Phone calls are not as easy to make communication errors, but it does still leave out body language from feelings, including facial expressions. Sometimes there are more urgent matters that need to be discussed in a relationship, but neither person can see each other in person to talk about. Maybe he or she is out of town for a while. Maybe he or she is just busy with something. What is harder is determining what things in a relationship can be discussed over the phone.

Nothing beats talking face-to-face with the person you love. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about your future, about a behavior of theirs you dislike, about a recent slip-up you made in the relationship, or even about something as trivial as what just happened to you at work today that made you laugh… The more personal interaction you get with the person you are with, the easier time you will have in the relationship. That goes for friendships, too. True friends are hard to come by, but when you find them, it will be more beneficial to building your friendships if you apply most of the same communication principles. For a lot of people who are used to phone calls or even texts to talk about things to one another, it becomes harder to be intuitive in conversations or be sociable in general. Yes, some things that should be discussed with the significant other, or a friend, can be hard to talk about. How much the relationship or friendship weighs in value depends solely on how much courage and effort one wants to put into it. There are times when a conversation has to be limited to a phone call, or even times when a phone call is not necessarily inappropriate for a conversation. That much depends on its importance. Guaging that is sometimes up to opinion. However, when in doubt, talk it out in person.