Love In Progress - LIP

Love That Grows PT1!

Love is meant to grow, it is the nature of love to grow. Just like vegetation, your love relationship must also grow to maturity. If your relationship is not growing, it is a sign that things must change, a cue to take drastic moves to jump start the relationship into forward motion again. A relationship that is stagnant is in danger of sliding backwards leaving you single again. Many people cannot tell if their relationship is growing or not, or simply miss the important signs while focusing on trivial things. Here are the top 3 signs you must be aware of at any point in you relationship.

Top 3 Signs Your Relationship is Stagnant:

1. Absence of clear relationship goals: goals in a relationship simply means we are working together towards a future we want. Their absence spell lack of commitment to move the relationship to the next stage. A goal can be something as simple as introducing your person to your family members or friends, or something more complex as saving money for the wedding or lobola.

2. Dwindling creativity and excitement: when you can go 3 months with nothing new or exciting you have done with your partner. Love is creative in its nature and solves its own challenges, if you notice more reasons why you can't do anything fun, it simply means your love is growing weak. 90 days is a lot of time to come up with something fun, and not always costly. Creativity in relationships shows effort and thought, its absence means you have nothing more to offer in the relationship. Do you still make an effort to surprise your partner with small gestures, plan spontaneous dates, or try new things together?

3. Increased conflict, criticism and negativity: the more you argue the more you drift apart, the more you fight and quarrel the more you destroy the little that's left in the relationship with your words and actions. No one likes fighting, let alone fighting with the one you love. If you notice that you constantly fight and argue, it means you have increased the time in your relationship you are doing what you do not want and this also grows into the break up you do not want. A sign that your relationship is growing is when you have less and less of arguments and fights. It simply means you have learnt to reason and communicate with each other better.

While noting that relationships are not the same, some grow faster than others, the most important thing is to keep growing at a pace that’s comfortable for both of you. Stagnation from any of the three above demands your attention and action.

TBC.