What kinds of existing problems within a current relationship should be considered?

Transcripts

Host: What kinds of existing problems within a current relationship should be considered?

Gloria MacDonald: We will always have challenges in any relationship of any length and so the question is do you have challenges in your relationship now before it's gone very far? I am assuming that you are watching this and you are in the beginning stages of a relationship or maybe you are not. So but either way, do you have challenges in the relationship now? Think about what those challenges are and have you tried to resolve them and resolution to challenges are and how people resolve challenges is really far more important than the challenge itself. So, people have very different ways of resolving challenges. Some people resolve challenges by sitting down and coming up with a list of the things that are good and the positives and the negatives and they want to be really rational about and very methodical about it. Other people resolve challenges through fighting. Maybe they are very expressive and they just really need to get the energy and the emotion out. Some people resolve challenges through internalizing things and thinking through it quietly. It doesn't mean they are not resolving something if they are thinking through it quietly. So you really need to understand how the two of you resolve problems and are you good at resolving problems because problems will come up and you will have to try to resolve them. Have you had any experience with this in relationship and can you resolve problems effectively together? If not, you might want to learn how to do that hopefully, sooner rather than later so that you can see if there is any potential for this as a long-term relationship and again, some of this is cultural because different cultures would deal with challenges in different ways. So understand who your partner is, understand how they approach challenges and how they resolve situations.