Well hello to you my reader chums! Being in a relationship is a wonderful experience; it's amazing having someone as your partner and your teammate.  

Whether you're new to a relationship or thinking of putting yourself out there, here are 5 things to do before getting into a relationship.

Set expectations from what you want in a relationship

We all want different things out of life, whether that's where we want to live, family goals, career goals or different perspectives on values. Getting into a relationship, you're then on a path with that new partner of yours and because of that, you'll want to have similar expectations. This is why it's good to have a rough idea of what you'd expect out of a relationship, For example, the journey you're looking to in your life and how that partner fits in with that.

Figure out what your love languages are

We all show love in different ways and we all experience love in different ways. Knowing what your love languages are can help you communicate the best ways you feel loved by your future partner. There are five love languages including quality time, words of affirmations, acts of service, physical touch and receiving gifts. I would suggest ranking yours and using your top two as the ones you communicate to your partner. Then likewise, you can do the same for your partner too.

Learn to love your own time

Alone time is crucial for our growth and development because it helps us gain self-dependence and learn to love ourselves. Alone time is an opportunity to explore the things you love to do, discover new hobbies, be with your thoughts and stand strong on your own two feet. That independence is important to bring to a relationship because your partner is there to support and grow with you, but not be the entirety of your support and growth. You should be able to grow together and grow separately at the same time.

Become self-aware

Self-awareness is something I think we should all work on to live better lives and experience healthier friendships and relationships. By being self-aware, you'll be in sync with your emotions, and understand how you're feeling and the effect it has on you and those around you. This is why it's important to check in every day mentally and assess how you're feeling and the cause of it. Self-aware people can be a lot more emotionally mature which helps build the foundations of a strong relationship with strong communication.

Fall in love with yourself and learn to express your true self

I talk about self-love all the time over on my blog as I truly believe it's the crux of living our best lives. We all deserve to truly accept who we are and love that we're unique individuals. Entering a new relationship can be a worrying territory as we're unsure if that person will love who we are, but that's the whole point of a relationship, to be unapologetically you and see if you're the right fit. I don't think you need to be fully in love with yourself before a relationship, but I do think it plays a huge part in feeling confident in yourself and the relationship when there is a degree of self-love.

I hope you enjoyed this post. What else would you add to the list?

Thank you for reading <3