DATING & RELATIONSHIPS
Six Green Flags You Must Know in New Relationships
When considering a romantic relationship with someone, you should take the time to figure out what makes you compatible.
Though that might be easier said than done since emotions can be overwhelming. Most times, they prevent you from seeing the full picture. When you’re head over heels in love, you might not notice certain behaviors that could potentially affect your relationship.
At the start, you’ll want to maintain a healthy connection with your partner. You’ll put a lot of effort into building stronger romantic connections with them; so, you take in every detail, no matter how small.
Afterward, you classify them as something positive or negative. Negative traits and behaviors are called red flags, whereas positive traits and behaviors are called green flags. We’ll be focusing on the latter.
Green flags are positive signs that indicate healthy behaviors in the romantic connection. They are significant in building healthy communication and trust towards your partner.
If you’re new to relationships, however, there is a chance that you’ll shift your focus to the red flags rather than the green flags. It’s because they’re easier to spot.
While it’s not wrong to take your partner’s negative traits and behavior into consideration, it’s also not right to over-fixate on them. Otherwise, you’ll fail to give your relationship a chance at thriving — you become limited on what you can give to your partner and your relationship.
Instead of focusing solely on red flags, give your partner and relationship a chance by also noticing the green flags.
On that note, here are six green flags that you need to know about:
You feel natural around each other.
It’s normal to experience awkwardness when you’re around someone you like. That’s why if you find yourself comfortable whenever you’re with your partner, it’s a clear sign you’re compatible.
You don’t need to pretend to be somebody else just to be appreciated. When you’re together, you become your authentic self. You don’t have to hold back. You can be honest anytime, and you can speak your mind without judgment and criticism.
To achieve this, you and your partner should understand each other.
You pay respect towards each other.
Having a new relationship requires time to deeply know each other. This is why maintaining boundaries is important during the early stages of the romantic connection.
These boundaries don’t make you distant in the relationship. It only signifies that there’s a need to extend efforts to get to know each other. Likewise, respect is necessary.
If you are partnered with someone who shows you the same respect you give, it means that you are with the right partner. You are taking each other’s time to fully connect in physical and emotional aspects.
What’s more important is that you are both willing to listen and understand each other’s points of view, even if they don’t fit your principles.
You support one another.
New relationships are about empowering each other and being a team. It is a good sign that you and your partner are always there when you both need to make big decisions.
It may not necessarily be about your relationship. But as long as you are beside each other and supporting one another, that’s all that matters.
There are times that you feel challenged about the decisions, but both of you still choose to help reach each other’s dreams, wanting to be the best version of yourselves.
You can talk for hours.
When you were still dating, you spent hours on end talking nonsense. Now that you’re officially a couple, it’s still the same old random conversations. You’re at ease with one another, and that’s a good sign.
The time you spend talking to one another means a lot because it reveals how both of you enjoy each other’s company. Two hours may not even be enough for your conversation.
It doesn’t matter what the topic is about. What’s important is that you get to connect with your partner, especially through things that both of you are interested in.
You listen to each other.
Your relationship with your partner is not always lively. Sometimes, it can be dull. There are times that you feel like talking about something, but your partner is feeling the other way around — vice versa.
You’ll know your partner values your relationship when they still listen to whatever you say and respond genuinely rather than just hearing words and being unengaging. They do this to keep the conversation going and because they want to know whatever you have to share.
For them, it is not just small talk, but it is a valuable conversation.
This kind of behavior is another green flag. It expresses care and thoughtfulness.
You often find yourself smiling.
This green flag seems to be the most obvious and easy to recognize among the others. It’s when you smile and laugh every time you are around your partner.
One of the most important things in new relationships is how you feel whenever you are spending quality time together. When you’re with them, all you feel is joy. You harness positive energy from them.
If you find yourself extremely happy even though you have separate ways, it means that you have truly found your match.
Green Flags vs Red Flags
Both healthy and unhealthy behaviors can exist in new relationships. However, the existence of green flags doesn’t invalidate the impact of red flags.
If you’re in a new relationship, acknowledging these green flags allows you to devise helpful ways to improve your connection with your partner.
Over time, relationships and couples change. What may have been good at the start of the relationship may no longer be the same.
But these differences don’t delve into the green and red flags, instead they focus on how you handle the dissimilarities.
Communicating with your partner about the things that matter to each one of you is another aspect to consider. This is to make sure that neither of you is pushing too much into the relationship.
Recognizing the green flags in your relationship through healthy communication is also a necessary skill to progress as a couple regardless of your personal preferences.
As per relationship psychotherapist Leslie Malchy, it is an incredible reward for you and your partner to get through things together. She adds that it also builds a sense of competence and confidence in you as a couple.
