If you’re lucky, you have a close family and a group of friends you can rely on. These people make and shape your life, enjoy special moments with you, are there for you when you need them, and help you get through tough times. But, what happens if you find yourself drifting apart?
Everyone gets busy, life gets complicated, and sometimes, this affects our relationships. If this sounds familiar, don’t panic. There are a few key ways to strengthen, foster, or even rebuild relationships with just about anyone. If you need some of these tips, read on to find out more.
Quality Time Is Key
It almost goes without saying, but one of the best ways to build relationships is with quality time. Yes, everyone’s busy, but you can find a couple of hours in your week for someone you truly care about. The best part is, if they come to see you, they want to be there too!
When you get together, try to avoid unnecessary distractions. Put your phone away and focus on your friend. Take the time to communicate, share feelings, and rebuild that trusting relationship. Whether this is simply a friend or a close member of your family, simply showing up and making time for them is an essential part of strengthening relationships.
Try Communication Games
If your problem is in struggling with communication or opening up, there are some great methods to combat this. Sometimes, games can help, which is why the experts at vertellis.com suggest playing conversation starter games such as cue cards, with questions, prompts, and assignments on them. The cards encourage open conversation while also making sure that everyone is included in the conversation. This is a great way of getting everyone to open up at home while being honest and having fun.
Personal Reflection
Believe it or not, taking some time for personal reflection can be good for your relationships with your friends and family. Firstly, you could try journaling. The benefits of journaling are great, particularly if you have issues you need to work through. The act of writing your thoughts on paper – completely honestly – can help you realize things and assess feelings.
You may also want to try meditation or mindfulness. These methods of focusing on yourself, your body, and your breathing can help you become better at dealing with stressful situations and focusing on the right things. Try journaling and meditation and watch how you become better at opening up and focusing on relationships.
Remember Special Occasions
No one likes to feel forgotten. Even if you’re insanely busy or thousands of miles away from your family, it’s still not hard to remember their special occasions. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, or any other milestone event, take the time to reach out to your friend or family member and express your love for them. Even a text or a quick phone call can reinforce the fact that you are thinking of them and love them. It’s not hard to do, but it can certainly change someone’s day. So, whatever you need to do to remember your friend’s and family’s special occasions, do it!
Listen and Absorb
When communicating with people, it can be easy to talk too much and not listen enough. This can make your friends feel alienated or ignored. Even if you don’t mean it, talking over someone or accidentally ignoring something they say can be super hurtful.
Instead of doing any of this, make your main focus listening. Listen to what this person has to say and truly absorb it. Take it in, process properly, and don’t get distracted. Then, respond to your friend. They will then know you are listening properly and care about them.
Random Acts of Kindness
As mentioned above, life gets stressful. Everyone has work, jobs to do, tasks to complete around the house, and just about any other stressful tasks that you can think of. To show how much you care for a loved one, spring random acts of kindness open them. Whether that’s something simple like loading the dishwasher because you know they hate it, or taking them a coffee and donut to work on a particularly busy day, any small acts of kindness like this can help give a relationship a real boost. Show with a random act how much you think of, care about, and love this person. They will certainly notice.
None of these tips are complicated or hard to achieve. Simply communicating well and making your relationships a priority can help fortify and strengthen any relationship. Whoever they are, they’ll appreciate the effort.