Adventure: Relationship Tip

I know – relationship advice?   

Yes, it is coming at you – coming at you with love.

So, I am compelled to share.  Chris (my stud of a boyfriend) and I are on this relationship journey.   Step by step, day by day, apartment decoration by apartment decoration – and it is a beautiful, winding, twisting, wicked, awesome journey, people.

History lesson:  Since being together, we have conquered, in no particular order:  long distance relationship, one person moving cross country for the other from warm to freezing climate, a year and a half later, the other person moving cross country for previously moved person  from close family and freezing  to warm climates, from broken bones to crushing goals, to living together and sharing life space, to raising a puppy to personal finances to getting caveman healthy…you get the picture and it is a moving photograph of life.

What I am about to share with you is epic.  E-P-I-C.  You might want to write it down or perhaps bookmark my blog – whichever. 

Secret Sauce:  WE  ARE  A  TEAM.

Okay, okay, it might not be ground breaking news to you, and you might already be operating this way with your significant other, family, friends…any relationship, really.  So then, consider it a gentle reminder.  But for me and my life, it is BIG headline news and it is freaking radical.

Definition for you:

team/tēm/

 Noun:  A group of players forming one side in a competitive game or sport.

Verb:  Come together as a team to achieve a common goal: “they teamed up to change the World”.

 

I am on a life team.  And what I am learning about teamwork is below:

 

1)  No one likes an individual contributor.  Let go of the ego and work together.  BOOM.

2)  Sometimes people fall down.  As teammates, we help each other up.  Back on solid ground.

3)  Patience is a beautiful and gnarly virtue in life.  Be patient when building a new strategy for victory – some times it take time to implement, to stick and to work.

4)  Be okay with a hard day.  The team will carry you.  All about the trust.  See numero uno.

5)  Be yourself.  No one likes a fake and it will break the team.  #lessonlearned

6) Allow space.  Some times you might need to give your teammate some space, let them close the door, sit in the bath tub and think…or cry, whichever?  I know there are times when I just need to let it  out before I let the emotional dogs out.  No one likes a quick-to-draw rager on their team.  Is this just me?

7) Remember the common goal.  I am out to win.  Win at this game called love in life.  But I cannot do it on my own.  See number 1) again.

8) Practice, practice, practice.  That gnarly budget might not work the first month – you better practice and don’t give up.  Commit to it together.

9)  Have a lot of fun together.  Teams can play hard and party hard.  Write that down, for sure.

10)  Acknowledge one another, give gratitude where gratitude is due.  Everyone loves a gold star and you need to know when the team is vibrating on the same level.

11)  See number one again and again.

 

And in our apartment, that’s the way love goes.