11 years is a long time to be married but to me, it seems like I got married yesterday because I’m still as in love with my wife as I was the day we got married.
On the day that we got married, I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I’ve learned a lot about marriage over the years and I want to share with you a few of the things that have helped my marriage to continue going strong over 11 years.
#1 – Invest in Your Marriage
Make no mistake about it, marriage is a partnership and you have to be willing to give something if you expect to get something in return.
Early on I recognized this and quickly realized that if I wasn’t investing anything of myself into my marriage that it would quickly die out.
#2 – Listen to Your Spouse
Most men don’t like to listen, and I’m one of them, but I also realized soon after getting married that if I didn’t start listening to what my wife was saying she soon thought that I was intentionally ignoring her.
How did I start listening more to my wife? I remove the distractions when she starts speaking and make sure that I’m actually listening to what she’s saying. This includes putting down electronic devices because, if my focus is somewhere else, I can’t honestly say that I’m listening to what she’s saying.
#3 – Learn from Your Mistakes
Marriage is a partnership but it’s also a “university” or school that never ends. I realized this early on and to this day I work hard at learning from mistakes that I make in our marriage so that I don’t continue making the same mistakes over and over again.
#4 – Eliminate the Distractions
My wife and I met in January 2007 and got married in April 2007. This is an extremely short period of time to meet someone and get married. As you can imagine, there were lots of people around us who were questioning our decision to get married and one of the best things we ever did was tune those people out to focus on our marriage.
Due to a wildfire, we actually moved to another part of the state that we lived in and this actually “forced” us to work together and become a couple. 11 years later, we both look back on the events that forced us to move and realized that leaving our hometown was the best thing that ever happened to us.
You may not be able to move but you can tune out those negative people in your life especially if they are encouraging you to leave your marriage.
#5 – Recommit Yourself to Your Marriage Every Day
Last of all, but most important, another important lesson I learned in my marriage is to recommit myself to my marriage and relationship EVERY DAY.
This hasn’t always been easy to do, especially if my wife and I have a disagreement, but the reality is that staying committed to our relationship, and committed to working our problems out, has kept me in this marriage and helped our marriage to continue going strong for 11 years.
I hope some of these tips will help you in your marriage!