They (whoever they are) say that its vitally important to have things in common with your significant other… and I totally agree with them… but I also feel its just as important to be different from your partner as well! A relationship is made up of two people. As individual’s people have their own strengths – one person might be good at planning, the other might be good at paperwork, one might be very excitable and the other may have a calming influence! When people come together and join forces in a relationship – they both bring their individual strengths to the relationship and you become a good strong team, which will... inevitably help you both to do much much more!

People are different. Everyone has different perspectives, different thought patterns, different priorities, different ways of doing things… its just human nature! The reality of relationships are that if you are looking for a relationship to work, and really last – then you have got to be aware of the fact that you are and can quite often, think and do things differently. Now all you have to do is see that as a positive!

If you were both the same, and so similar in everything that you did and thought about… I’d say the relationship could get pretty boring! Now believe me I know how frustrating it can be when your significant others is doing things differently then how you think they should be done… and its driving you round the bend… but that’s when you need to just stop your automatic thought pattern of frustration due to difference… take a deep breath, and embrace the fact that they are different… knowing that having different perspectives and different ways of doing things are actually really important to a surviving relationship!

Now I’m not saying you should search for differences either… in my opinion it’s important to have a healthy balance in your relationship. Its vital to agree on things as well… like personal morals, how to raise your children… or even the smaller things like watching Xfactor together on a Saturday night!! (Yes that’s one of the little things that Barry and I love doing that we have in common!!) The things you have in common are what you should hold close to you. But when you do have a difference of opinion, perspective or way of doing something, see it as a positive, an advantage… see yourselves as a team of two minds coming together… with differences on common ground… creating one powerful, stable, strong duo!

So - your task for this week is to make a list of all the positive differences you have with your partner… It’s a great way to see how strong your team of two really is!! Let me know how you get on… email me This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - I love hearing your thoughts and feedback and I promise to write back to you!!

Love,

Katie-Jane xx