How to Change Bad Habits in a New Relationship

When you do something for a long enough period of time, they become habits and are hard to break. Habits can be good or bad, either way they can be broken, if you know how to change them. Changing bad habits in a new relationship can become second nature, if you continually practice the behavior that will eventually turn into good habits. Things that have been done in your past relationships that have caused turmoil, strife and breakups could end future relationships, if you don't find a way to change them.

Instructions

1. Learn from past mistakes; easy to say, but sometimes hard to do. Take a long look at your past relationships as an overseer, not as a participant. Step back and look at the big picture and try to see what some of the things that caused the breakup were. Focus on your behavior in the relationship, because that is basically the only thing that you can control.

2. Discover what your anger triggers are. Again, use your past relationships as a guide to finding what things trigger your anger. It might trigger anger when she accuses you of having an affair because of your inattentiveness to her. Keep in mind that jealousy is bred by insecurity, and she may be simply asking for your reassurance.

3. Decide that you will spend some time unselfishly, doing what he wants. Instead of insisting on always doing things that you like, think of some of the things that he likes. Even if it is going to a football game and it is your least favorite thing, you should go with him for the sake of compromise.

4. Handle conflict in a positive way. Believe it or not, disagreements are actually healthy in relationships as long as you handle them in the correct way. Be sure that you don't say hurtful things during a disagreement and never be hateful with your words.

5. Agree to disagree. Sometimes the goal of winning an argument can get very serious and cause hard feelings with one or both of you. This can make even small issues seem to be insurmountable. Many times it is healthier to just admit that there are valid points on each side and stop fighting by agreeing to simply disagree with each other.