Building trust in a relationship is one of the most important things you can look to continually develop and improve. At different stages in a relationship you can have good parts and bad parts, but knowing that you have a decent amount of trust with each other can help you get through any of the tough times – and look forward to the good times.
So how do you build trust in a relationship, and how can you make sure that this trust will last? Here’s some key tips to bear in mind that will help strengthen the relationships you have, and help future relationships get off on the best foot.
Be Dependable
Being dependable, by doing the things you say you’ll do is one of the core parts in building trust. Often, problems with multiple, smaller jobs is where doubts in a relationship first set in.
If you’ve known someone like this, you’ll understand what I mean – a person that says they’ll be there at this time, and they’ll do this job – only for you to find later on that they aren’t there, haven’t done it, and so on. When looking at how to build trust in a relationship, of course there could be many excuses as to why they weren’t available at the time, and maybe these are all true – but this doesn’t mean they don’t damage the relationship, at least in a small amount. These cumulative effects that build up over time, can lead to you not trusting your partner or vice versa.
So for this reason, remember to only commit to things you know you can do – and situations you know you’ll be on top of. Don’t just agree to anything because you’re trying to please your partner. Being dependable, being on time and doing the things you say you’ll do is a great way to start building up the trust again.
Call When You Say You Will
If you tell your partner you going to call them sometime tonight… make sure that you do! It’s much better to simply say, “I’m sorry, I won’t be free to phone you tonight, but I’ll see you tomorrow”, then it is to lie or say something you don’t think you’ll be able to do.
Keeping in touch when you aren’t free to see your other half is very important, and you wouldn’t want to be left waiting for a phone call either I’m sure, so don’t make it happened to your partner.
Avoid Lies – No Matter How Small
How do you build trust in a relationship when lies are present? Lies are another thing that just don’t have a place in a solid relationship. No matter how small, or seemingly innocent the lie is – if you get caught in a pattern of telling lies to your partner, doesn’t it make sense that they’d start to trust you less?
Not only do the lies wear on the relationship over time, you can sometimes find yourself getting caught up in a perpetual ‘lying loop’! Where you have to tell one lie after another to cover up for the previous one. In the end it doesn’t matter if it was a tiny white lie to begin with – once you’re caught in a cycle like this, one slip of the tongue with a more serious lie is all it takes to do a serious amount of damage to a trusting relationship.
Disagreeing Is Allowed – Arguing Is Not
When thinking about how do you build trust in a relationship, I’ve talked before about the difference between disagreeing with your partner and arguing with them. To recap, disagreeing is when you and someone else have a different opinion about something you’re talking about – it can be resolved calmly without either person feeling bad about their own opinion, or that they need to change it.
Arguing is when a discussion takes on a much more negative side – when someone starts becoming angry at the other or shouting or otherwise managing to upset the other person, or bully them into their way of thinking.
This is not what you want in a relationship as it doesn’t respect the other person’s feelings. Again, situations like this over time can damage the relationship in the long run.
Relationships Need Work
No matter where the relationship is just now, it’s never too late to look at how do you build trust in a relationship, and start improving the trust between you and your partner – as this will certainly strengthen the relationship for you.
Also, never forget that relationships require consistent work and effort to keep them strong. I don’t mean ‘work’ in a negative way here either! It should be fun to reconnect with your partner regularly and keep up-to-date with them and what they’re thinking. A close connection in a relationship doesn’t happen overnight, you need to keep the relationship sparked yourself!
If you find that you and your partner are having problems with trust or other skills, never simply give up or start to imagine things will be easier with another person – these problems exist on a deeper level and they will start again with any new partner if you don’t address them. So instead, take the time to really thing about how do you build trust in a relationship to improve this romance – it’ll be worth it in the future!
