Cement your commitment to one another

If finding your soulmate once seemed like a rocky road, get ready for the reality of how to make a relationship last. That's because relationships can be complicated, messy, and at times, downright hard. But the good news is that they're usually totally worth the effort.

You and your partner will need to navigate the relationship path in order to discover the route that works best for you, but that doesn't mean you can't stop and ask for directions along the way. For more trusted sources, turn to a professional relationship therapist or Lasting, a science-based relationship app backed by The Knot.

Whether your relationship status is one date in, recently engaged, honeymoon is over, or together so long you've lost count, we've gathered up the relationship advice of experts and real couples alike to help cement your commitment to one another.

Respect each other's minds

You and your partner have two completely different minds that have been constructed over decades of time and continue to evolve. That means you'll think and feel differently about practically everything and find yourselves in disagreements, both big and small.

That's also why, in a conflict, the objective isn't to 'win,' like many think—it's to understand your partner's perspective. It is important for couples to keep in mind that your partner's opinion is valid and worthy of respect, even when you're tempted to think it's not.

Disconnect to connect

Social media and the internet in general can put a strain on one-on-one time. Just because you two may be the only people in the room together doesn't mean you're spending quality time with one another. Put down your devices when out together and unplug when home. Take a 24-hour break to play board games or cook a meal together.

Get a tune-up

In the same way you see a general practitioner once a year for early detection, marriage counselling is a great idea once a year as well, if not more. Considering an app like Lasting makes it easier and more accessible than ever. It smartly gets to know your relationship and then builds a customized program just for your significant other with sessions on everything from communication to sex.

Find a safe space

When both people want it to work, it's only a matter of finding a common ground and a common language, a safe space, where the friction of the relationship can be resolved. Oftentimes this space and communication style ends up happening in therapy, but if couples can invent that in their relationship beforehand, counselling is both easier and more often than not, not needed.

Invest in your partner

Relationships have a strong chance of surviving when they are based on 'the good' in the other person, where both partners work together to feed that good and are inspired to become better themselves.

These relationships are more sustainable than those based simply on pure pleasure or usefulness, because they're based on what partners actively put into themrather than what they can get out of them.