Previously, I posted The A-Z Guide to Marriage, which offered a brief overview of certain traits to develop or avoid in order to keep your marriage happy. This information was obtained through researching several sources, including surveys of happily married couples.
Since these issues are so important, and found or avoided so commonly, I thought it would be a good idea to cover them in more detail, starting with A for acceptance.
Acceptance means receiving something in a gracious manner. That can include anything from an award, to constructive criticism, to a quirk or personality trait that is very different from your own way of thinking.
Acceptance means that you don’t continuously try to change your spouse or expect him or her to be someone else. You want your spouse to be herself, or to be comfortable being who he really is, when at home together as well as when you are with other people.
One of the things that draws us together is knowing that someone else loves us for who we really are. The ability to be free with another person without fear of rejection, humiliation, or recrimination, creates a strong bond.
Even if you weren’t aware of some of your spouse’s idiosyncrasies before getting married, you have to take the good with the bad. Certain behaviors or annoyances can certainly be discussed, but it is important not to continuously find fault or demand changes in personality traits that make your spouse the person he or she is.
Acceptance is a give and take relationship, wherein we have to give it freely in order to expect it in return. Couples who accept each other, faults and all, have acquired one the greatest strengths for building a lasting marriage. Loving each other -as is- no matter what, is a sign of mature love.