"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."
What happens when relationships start to go sour and arguments creep in?
How can you manage conflict so that neither of you gets badly hurt, and the relationship does not suffer?
Better still, are there good ways in which you can turn the situation around and rescue your relationship?
Conflict gets a bad rap. We automatically assume that conflict will collapse a relationship. Some of us avoid conflict like the plague, thinking that if we close our eyes to a potential clash, it doesn't exist.
Engaging in conflict isn't going to end the relationship; it's avoiding the conflict [that might].
So instead of seeing conflict as a threat to a relationship, what if we reframed this and saw conflict as an opportunity and a sign of growth in a relationship?
This requires understanding that conflict will inevitably occur in a close relationship. The only way of getting around it is to not share your opinion at all, which is not healthy.
So what if we focused on sharing our opinions in a way that is productive?
This book CONFLICT RESOLUTION SKILLS, explores some of the issues connected with conflict within relationships, and discusses the skills required to avoid, manage and move on from it, to make your relationship stronger, and hopefully help it to last longer.
