Here sharing a photo of me and @nebi from January, the moment we got on the airport bus - after he picked me up from a month-long trip to see my family back in the states. I am clearly exhausted in the photo!
It’s quite incredible how some time apart can be more of a good thing than bad. The space we had while I was away allowed us to develop more #independence as well as an interdependence with each other. The time apart allowed us to grow in many ways, and in between we made sure to always be there for each other.
We created a daily routine / ritual of Skyping each other - at least 1 time a day with a cup of tea- making sure we had a moment to fill in on details of our experiences and what’s been going on. We would constantly check in on each other by #text, no matter where we were or what we were doing, and we would be ok to get woken up at night if our partner needed us. Because of this, it felt like Aldin was never away from me. It was a cool feeling.
Though - I want to bring forth that we could not have matured or strengthened our #relationship if it weren’t for the people and resources that were there for us. For a relationship to grow, you have to every now and then look outside the box, ask questions, research, read articles, listen to podcasts, and talk with people.
AND you don’t have to limit the growth to just a #romantic relationship or marriage - you can see what more you can do in your OWN LIFE, or with your family or friends for example. It doesn’t have to stay limited to one form of relationship.
From this, I want to be clear that Aldin and I still face challenges in our relationship (so we are not PERFECT) - but we have more of a firmer footing now of how to direct ourselves when things get tough.