Sep Cole

Marriage, or any long-term relationship, is not *all* about love & romance. It’s about working at it day in and day out. It’s about choosing your partner every day... You can read the full post from my wife here: dialedinmen.com/teammate-mar…

6. Trust and respect each other. Especially in front of others, including your children. If you do not respect your spouse in front of other people, why should those people respect your spouse? Enough said.

5.) Be grateful for each other’s contributions. Whether it be money, time, chores, childcare, or anything else, no one contribution is greater than another. And don’t keep score. If you truly value each other’s input, then the scorecard shouldn’t (and doesn’t) matter.

4.) Be each other’s champion. Celebrate wins and encourage each other. Bring home champagne after a promotion at work, back each other up when engaging in that battle with your heathen toddler, work out together, etc. Never cut the other person down when they're struggling.

3.) Try new things together. Even if one of you is typically more adventurous than the other, have fun with it. Trying new things gets an individual out of their comfort zone and is often easier as a couple, allowing you both to grow stronger together.

2.) Over communicate. You cannot read each other’s minds. Never assume the other person knows what you meant. Give each other the benefit of the doubt when miscommunications happen. Double check if necessary.

1.) No one should ever hear anything bad about your spouse from you. It's one thing to joke with friends about something trivial and quite another to demean your spouse's character. Know the difference and always discuss the latter with your spouse and no one else.