Let me begin by stating something many of us already know, relationships are not easy and require hard work and effort. This can be a shock because growing up we are sold the myth the once we find “the one”, we will walk away into the sunset, hand in hand, and so begins the happily ever after. It was “meant to be” and you’re in love, so it should be easy, right? Right?!?! Nope.

“People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real badasses.” – Brene Brown

Do you find yourself in situations where despite recognizing that you need to take time for yourself you end up agreeing to supporting or doing something for someone? Maybe people refer to you as being “too nice” and it may feel difficult to assert your needs. It can be hard for someone with people pleasing habits to recognize what they are doing because they have been this way from a young age. The patter can be difficult to identify because it shapes how we relate to the world.

Our parents play a huge role in our development and our relationship with them will inform how we develop relationships outside of our family. Even in a “perfect” childhood (which doesn’t exist by the way), our parents will disappoint us and we form beliefs about them as a result.

The cornerstone of any healthy relationship is effective communication. It seems simple enough. Say how you feel. In my experience, this gets complicated very quickly, especially as strong emotions become involved. It’s easy to become accusatory and blaming, which can lead to the other person shutting down or escalating emotions leading to fights and arguments. The last thing we want to do is hurt the people we care about and instead of saying how we feel we end up keeping our feelings to ourselves. Emotions are pesky though, and demand to be felt and expressed. The longer we repress them, the higher the likelihood that we will be triggered and explode. Which is generally when we end up saying the most hurtful and destructive things. So how do we express our strong emotions without hurting the other person and/or ourselves?

The dating game has been made more complicated with the introduction of dating apps. Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, to name a few, have taken over the dating scene and have quickly become how single people are searching for their new partner. The convenience of swiping left or right turns dating into a game. With every right swipe, the slight tinge of anxiety, hoping for a match and it doesn’t end there. Maybe you match, but will they answer your message? If they do answer will it go anywhere or will you just turn into pen pals, or even worse will you get “ghosted”. Dating now has so many more additional stressors, and it is not surprising to learn that it actually has a very real effect on an individual’s mental health.

Valentine’s day has come and gone, and many people have celebrated their love and relationship with lavish dinners and extravagant flower arrangements. Social media posts are buzzing with hashtags and images of #TrueLove and #RelationshipGoals, and it got me thinking, what are relationship goals? What does that mean? I think we all want to be in a healthy and happy relationship, that’s a pretty safe assumption to make. Relationships are an important part of our lives, and have the potential to be fulfilling and rewarding when they are healthy. Unfortunately, many of us have been in what could be classified as unhealthy relationships and it can be hard to know/understand what a healthy relationship can look like. These are 3 of the key characteristics that I believe are important and need to be present in any relationship.

We might be a bit biased here, but we obviously feel that talking about mental health is incredibly important. There has been a definite improvement around people’s understanding of mental health and normalizing the mental health struggles that individual experiences. Bell’s mental campaign has gained significant traction over the years and has garnered a huge following. This year will mark 8 years since Bell started the “Lets Talk” campaign, and in that time the stigma around mental health has decreased, however it still remains a taboo topic for many.