How to Maintain Healthy Relationships in All Areas of Your Life

With mental health being a hot topic in the media of late, it’s increasingly important to invest time into your own happiness and well-being. Ironically, one of the worst and most common triggers for depression and related mental health issues is toxic relationships. Nobody really wants to have bad relationships, but they can be unavoidable if you are persistent on relying on others for your happiness. Here we’re going to look at how you can start and maintain healthy connections in all areas of your life, starting with yourself.

It’s always a good time to make positive changes to your life, especially when they are guaranteed to make you happier. While most people see the act of pursuing relationships as a way to seek out happiness in their lives, most relationships of any kind are doomed for failure if you don’t have self-respect for yourself or love who you are. In some cases it’s easier to solve somebody else’s problems and to make others happy that it is to help yourself.
The word “relationships” can mean those connections that you form in terms of friendships, at work, with family or romantically. But one thing is guaranteed, how do you expect to have a healthy relationship with anybody else unless you’re fully satisfied with who you are and respect your own personal values?!  
 

How can you be at the top of your game when your thoughts and feelings are on the floor?

Love is almost like a muscle that needs to be used, strengthened and conditioned in order to develop and remain active. It’s not possible to simply find some sort of love and then leave it at that. Self-development and immersing ourselves in activities that are important in helping us grow as people. It’s easy to meet a new friend at a party or at a local event and have a great conversation for a couple of hours. But you can't live off of the same conversation forever more. Just like you can’t live out a romantic relationship based on the feelings of intense love or lust that you first felt initially.
 
Films, books and the media in general paint a picture perfect situation of how an idyllic work life looks, as well as how good relationships should be. There is definitely no harm in setting standards and having a certain ideal in mind but never compare yourself to a fictional character. A fictional character’s life span is a mere two hours in a film or possibly longer if you read a book. You are not a fictional character and what might have worked for your favourite heroine in your beloved TV series, book, or even a celebrity you follow, might not be the path that is right for you. Just because somebody accepts a situation in a film or a celebrity supposedly accepts a situation, doesn’t mean you have to. Never fight a feeling that doesn’t feel right to you.  
 

If you want to love or be loved, start loving yourself.

Nobody else can ever be your first true love because the first person you should love is yourself. It’s not the easiest thing to hear but if you have no self-respect, no principles or personal interests then others will see that. This is why it is important to understand what is important to you and never sacrifice that for the sake of a job, promotion, or person. There’s a huge difference between making sacrifices or negotiating certain matters and giving up something that is important to you. If you’re constantly chasing after love, respect and approval from others around you, you’re forever battling to achieve their “ideal” rather than figuring out your own values. And, in most cases if you feel like you can never really please somebody then chances are you never will.
 

Once you find yourself accepting yourself more and feeling confident within yourself, you will find that you easily attract the right kind of people in all areas of your life. The key to all good relationships is knowing your own self-worth!