In the world today we are faced with many problems and distractions from the moment we open our eyes each morning until the second we close them at night. Between financial obligations, issues at work, running a home and all of the stuff that comes along, it becomes easy for things to be missed or put aside until later. What happens when your relationship is put on a back burner? How do you keep your pot from boiling over?

It can happen so easily. All people have priorities in their lives. The problem in many relationships is when those priorities don’t line up. One party can make the union their number one priority because they don’t have a lot of other things going on. Maybe the other partner has so many other life distractions that they unintentionally turn you into an afterthought. It can cause great animosity in a relationship when one party is made to feel like a convenience and if you’re not on the same page with where your relationship stands on the level of importance, chances are, it isn’t going to work out.

How do you show someone they are a priority without losing focus on everything else you have going on? The answer is so simple it’s almost complicated. Time.

Giving someone your time is the most heartfelt gift you can provide. It is one of your most valuable and precious resources because you have so very little of it. If you want the person in your life to feel like a priority then you need to manage your time in a way that sends that message to them loud and clear. If you are constantly telling them you don’t have time to see them but are also making sure that you never miss your weekly golf night, or shopping trip with your friends, then you are sending them the message that they are not as important or high ranking in your life.

So how can you give someone your time and attention without losing yourself? The relationship needs a healthy balance. Go play golf and go shopping with friends, but also take a look at the big picture of your life. Make sure that if you have decided to be in a committed relationship you are still giving that other person a healthy amount of your time.

Making your relationship a priority means you need to be willing to consider the effects that your actions may have on your relationship. If you are telling your girlfriend that you can’t go on a weekend trip because you have no money but then in the same breath are telling her about all the video games you just bought, it is easy to make her feel like her feelings don’t matter.

Think of the little ways to make your significant other feel like a priority. More often than not, a flower picked from the garden or a “good morning beautiful” text is all that it takes to keep the stars aligned for you and leave your partner feeling like a priority and not just an option in your life.

Melissa Hughes
http://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_girltalk-1.jpg.optimal.jpgMelissa Hughes

By Melissa Hughes

For Weekender

Girl Talk began in 2012 as a telltale horror story of the city’s most epic dating disasters and has evolved into a column about love, life experiences and growing up. Melissa also has a weekly Girl Talk TV segment on PA Live, WBRE, and a radio segment every Wednesday on 98.5 KRZ.