The point is, healthy relationships are something that you need to cultivate and keep, regardless of the length of time that you have been with your partner. Building and maintaining a relationship takes work, and most successful couples who are together long enough for that initial, fairy-tale like rush of love and lust to dissipate (just a little), know that healthy relationships are a balancing act, one that requires both partners to participate in constant giving and taking. In a healthy relationship, you will feel like you are your authentic self, rather than feeling that you need to make changes or huge sacrifices in order for the relationship to flourish. Whether that is sticking up for you when someone says mean things to you, or being that rock that you can depend on all the time, in a healthy relationship, you and your partner will stand by each other and treat each other like peers.
You cannot have a healthy relationship with a partner that does not respect you or knows what you truly think. In a healthy relationship, you need to be 100% comfortable communicating these boundaries, and knowing they will be respected (and vice versa for your partner).
As with many aspects of healthy relationships, it may boil down to how well you communicate your needs and intentions to your partner. In a healthy relationship, partners usually make sure they are communicating their feelings in a way that is helpful and productive. The couples who have the best relationships are those who know how to communicate, and they spend (or take) time doing it. Partners are able to set healthy boundaries and speak openly about emotional and physical wants and needs, and how this looks within their relationships.
In a good relationship, no one partner is scared of the other; you are able to speak and interact in such a way that both of you feel safe and comfortable saying and doing what you want. Trust also may mean each person in a relationship feels free to spend time with the other people in their lives, like friends and family. Another key way to build trust in your relationship is by being attentive to your partners privacy and boundaries.
Working through a disagreement in a healthy manner, talking respectfully, and listening to each others insights is a crucial component in any relationship, whether with friends, family, or a significant other. By being open to analyzing your relationship, you can work together to create a more satisfying partnership. Even if your relationship feels healthy, sometimes it is useful to take a step back and look at the improvements that you could be making together.
It is important to find out for yourself what you can tolerate, or when the relationship is not healthier for you anymore. If you discover you are emotionally unprepared to commit to a serious relationship, or that you no longer view that new relationship as one that you wish to pursue solely, let your partner know soon, rather than later. If you sense your partner is thinking that your relationship is more serious than you think, tell them. Your partner will respect your honesty, and this will leave the relationship on a good footing, even if eventually you choose to break up.
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