How to have a healthy fight with your partner

Relationships can often be challenging to maneuver, and a fight is always looming somewhere around the corner.

As much as you'd like to avoid fights, you can have them in a healthy manner that is actually beneficial to your relationship. Stick around as we take you through a few tips to consider

Ensure you take turns when speaking

Many times when you have a fight, it's always about you wanting to advance your opinion thus careless about what the other party is saying.

This hurts the feelings of your partner and worsens the situation. To avoid this, take turns talking. That way you'll learn to listen to each other and in turn understand what the other party is trying to communicate.

Watch your tone

Sometimes it's not about what you say, but how you say it. Your tone can be the determining factor between whether the fight will be constructive or destructive.

Always strive to make sure that your tone is as normal as possible. Avoid being sarcastic and condescending. This agitates your partner and makes them defensive and hostile.

Focus on the behaviour or the issue at hand

Have you had someone call you a thief simply because you took their item without permission? How did it make you feel? I bet you didn't feel good at all. Even though you more or less 'stole it', being out rightly called a thief hurts and you will most definitely get defensive.

The next time you find yourself in a situation where you think your partner took something that is yours, try saying that you didn't like that they took something belonging to you without your permission. That way you'll have tackled the behaviour and not attacked their character. They will be more inclined to listen.

Avoid judging

The feeling of being judged is one of the major contributors to unhealthy relationship fights.

When your partner knows and fully understands that they will not be judged and prosecuted even before the fight begins, they will be more comfortable to talk and air out their grievances.

That way, a good and amicable settlement can easily be reached. Otherwise if you are walking into a fight knowing very well what the other party already feels, this inhibits fairness and breeds contempt.

Show empathy

Empathy is simply the ability to step into the other person's shoes and get to understand how they feel, this way you'll be very objective in how you respond to them.

So next time you are in a fight try showing your partner that you understand how they feel and that it's okay for them to feel that way.

They will also most likely respond positively and understand you and how you feel.