Relationship are an important part of lives. Whether its a romantic relationship or a friendship we are all involved in relationships of some form. Relationships are important for our social nature as humans and they are how we connect with each other. However, not all relationships posses the keys that all good relationships must have. These keys are:
Open communication
All good relationships must have good communication or else issues arise. You must be wiling to be open with your friend or partner if there is something that they are doing that bothers you or if you are upset about something and just need some support or alone time. Your friend/partner can't read your mind, you must let them know that something is wrong or they most likely either won't pickup on it, or they might try to ask what's wrong and you'll just get even more frustrated or upset. Facing conflict is never easy, but if you avoid addressing/solving issues, then you are just going to continue to be upset because your friend/partner will mostly likely continue doing or saying whatever they were that made you upset in the first place. And you will reach a point where you can't take it anymore and explode. And that explosion could potentially ruin your relationship.
Respect
Just as important as communication, you must also respect your friend/partner and their feelings. If they come to you because they are not happy about something you are doing, you must be willing to listen and really understand what they have to say, and you may have to make changes that you are not accustomed to. You might not always understand why what you said or did bothered them, but you have to respect their feelings. What might not be a big deal to you might be to them. If someone is important to you, then you must do whatever it takes to make sure that you respect each other, and listen and understand each other.
Care/Compassion
This one is kind of a given, but regardless, you must care and have compassion for your friend/partner. If someone does not respect your feelings, or really seem to care how their actions affect you, then you might need to reconsider that relationship. And be wary, their will be people who will pretend to care about you to get what they want, but at the end of the day actions speak louder than words and so if their words don't match their actions, you have a problem.
Enjoyment
This one is also kind of a given, but any kind a relationship must be enjoyable for you. A person can be the nicest person in the world, but if they are not fun to be around than it will be very difficult to foster a relationship with them. A big component of any relationship is enjoyment: we make connections with other people to make our lives better, not worse. So if a friend/partner is not fun to be around or hang out with, then you shouldn't be with them. No matter how nice they are or how much you have in common.
There are other important aspects that all good relationships should have, but these are the big keys that every good relationship needs to have. If you don't have any or all of these keys in your relationships, then you may need to re-evaluate your relationship with that person.
