If you're looking to measure the health and potential of your relationship, look at these eight factors for compatibility.
Every relationship is wholly unique, but there are some common elements that good, healthy, long-lasting relationships share. If you're wondering whether you and your partner have the compatibility to make your relationship last, take a look at these eight elements of healthy relationship compatibility:
1. Conversation. Is it you or your partner who does most of the talking in your relationship? While some relationships naturally favor one person speaking over the other, there should be some level of balance between the two of you initiating and maintaining conversations.
2. Intimacy. Sexual intimacy is important for a healthy relationship -- but not in the same way for every couple. What's important is that you both have the same level of satisfaction with your sex life -- whether that means being intimate daily or hardly ever.
3. Relaxation. What one person finds relaxing, the other should at least find tolerable. That is to say, one person can't feel restless at home but comfortable at a busy bar while the other person feels the total opposite.
4. Ambition. You don't have to share the same ambitions, but there should be some level of mutual goal planning. Are you, as a couple, more focused on building a stable career, or more focused on enjoying life as it comes to you?
5. Philosophy. You don't have to share the same political or religious affiliations, but you should share what's truly important in life.
6. Interests. Interests won't make or break your relationship, but sharing interests and hobbies is a great indicator of a potentially long-lasting relationship.
7. Respect. Respect should be an immediate given. Even if you have arguments from time to time, the true measure of how compatible you are as partners is how much respect you hold for each other, even in times of frustration.
8. Passion. That goofy lovestruck feeling might not last forever, but you should always feel passionate about your relationship in a way that makes you feel proud and attached to your relationship.
If you experience all eight of these compatibility factors, odds are you're in a relationship with potential to last for many years.