One thing I have learned recently about relationships, not necessarily about romantic relationships, but relationships in general; is that there tends to be miscommunication. I know we have all gone through the miscommunication process and it is not fun. But, I realized that one of my friends was not getting the part of the relationship that she needed from me that I had never thought about. I wanted her to just be there for me when I needed her but I never actually told her that. There would be times that I would just need a hug and because I never asked her for it, I never got one. I felt like she didn’t care and she felt the same way about me. Okay, it sounds like we’re dating but in all honesty, this is how relationships are. The one thing that she never told me was that she needed me to tell her how I felt or even just call her up every once in a while to ask how she was doing. She felt like she was doing all the talking. When she just wanted the words to come out of my mouth to just ask her how she was. I needed her to give me a hug when I was stressed or upset. I needed her to show me that she understood what I was going through by just giving me a hug or letting me cry it out and sit there with me. That was all I wanted. We talked it out and discovered that because we never actually voiced what we needed, that we just got frustrated with each other and more upset because we thought the other person didn’t care about our friendship. This is really how it is in a romantic relationship. There are things called love languages. Physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, and acts of service. My top two are physical touch and acts of service. Hers was words of affirmation. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Well, in a romantic relationship, if we try to help out our significant other with what we would want, does not necessarily mean that is what THEY need. We need to be able to ask and communicate what we need from our partners and what would work for us for comfort and affection. They also should be able to do the same with us. Trust me, it goes a long way when you know what the other person needs from a relationship. If you keep trying to handle things in a way that would work for you and never pay attention to what that person needs, there is no way that relationship would work. So, if you are having any kind of relationship problems, take a step back and see if there is something that you can do to make it better. Is there a way that you are approaching things that the other person sees as you not caring? Is there something that they are not doing that you need them to do in order to know that they care? Just examine what you are doing and what you need them to do and talk about it. Relationships are going to have their hardships but if you accomplish this in a relationship then you may just have it made.