Could relationships benefit from their own set of guidelines?

United States
November 1, 2012 11:26am CST
For those of you that have read my discussion post on Needing Relationship Advice, you will know that it is no secret that my boyfriend and I are deadlocked in a no win argument. Worse of all he pushed my buttons to the point that I snapped, and now he is punishing me for snapping at him. He is using the whole circumstance to be mean in retalliation because he somehow thinks that will teach me a lesson. Rather all it is doing is telling me this relationship is headed for an end. As I was having such a delightful time reading and responding to posts, here on myLot I was reminded of all the positive interactions that I have here on myLot with both my friends of fellow myLot members. As I was participating in rberons discussion about everyone's different personalities on myLot, I really got to thinking. What is it about myLot that brings out the best in all of us. My conclusion was that the guidelines here on myLot help to ensure that myLot is a positive experience for everyone. This got me thinking would our relationships in life be so much more positive if we had guidelines. I mean even last night I had to tell the boyfriend that I did not appreciate either the tone or language that he was using in his text messages. What if in a relationship you already had your set of guidelines would this make for a happy relationship with less fighting?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@Devilova (5392)
• Indonesia
1 Nov 12
Guidelines, rules, law, appointment or whatever it's call was created to make all become harmony, respectfully, trusted and understanding one to each other. All will only work when all who get involved are obey it with honost. The pillar of the relationships are based on the honost, trust and understanding. Thats what I have knew and feel so far.
1 person likes this
• United States
1 Nov 12
Devilova, that is so true. Trust, honesty, respect, and understanding are the foundation of any good relationship. Once, these values in the relationship start to degrade the foundation of the relationship just begins to crumble. Then, you find yourself on shaky ground whondering do I stay here, and try to rebuild the relationship from the rubble or do I just jump ship and begin anew. Sometimes, I think it can be rebuilt if only a few bricks from those pillars have shaken loose, but once the bricks start smashing into bits of dust there is not much more you can do. The hardest part is deciding to abandon the sinking ship.
• India
2 Nov 12
Having guidelines and limitations is good for most of the things. Relationship is also one among them. As we know too much of anything is not good and it will give some unwanted issues. Keep a boundary line to each and every relationship to keep it for a long manner without any issues. Trust and understanding is important in relationship, but don't trust a person blindly and have more faith with him/her. There is nothing wrong in testing our beloved persons, in fact such kind of test is important to know about a person fully. Avoid blind trust, try your maximum to understand your lover in all the sort before having a deep relationship with him/her. Don't fall in love easily as well as trust a person without proper understanding and communication. Always have a boundary for your love life, crossing the boundary will give some unwanted issues. Love is common to every one and anyone can love any person who is making a great impact with them. But don't force your beloved person to love you, if they are not interested with you as well as don't think your lover as your slave. Each and every person is having their own thoughts, feelings and emotion. Never try to dominate your lover and consider them as your best half and give equal position to them. Be positive and encourage your beloved person to achieve a lot of thing in the life. Our motivation and encouragement will help them to achieve a lot. There is lot of difference between love and lust, if we understand it fully we know about the real guidelines of a good relationship. Real and sincere love can wait a long time for the beloved person as well as follow the restrictions and conditions until getting marriage. It don't give importance to the emotions. Real love is based on the feelings.
• United States
2 Nov 12
vidy, great post there is a lot of difference between love, trust,and lust. You have some great ideas here! Could you share a few ideas of guidelines that you have had in relationships?
• India
2 Nov 12
I am married and living happily with my kids. Since i am in married relationship, so i don't have more restrictions for it. I have lot of responsibilities with my family and working hard to fulfill my family members needs and necessities
• Canada
12 Jun 13
The relationship we create an many cases is stemmed from the one we were brought up in. If I may say, the first relationship we will ever know is the one we were born into. Unfortunately, for some, it was not a solid foundation, thereby, it has influenced the lives of may in a negative way. For such, its very hard to create a good relationship of there own and be happy.
@rberon1985 (5359)
• Philippines
1 Nov 12
I'm sorry to hear about your situation Aireanna.Guidelines is very important in any way. It directs us to the right direction or right path. But sometimes we tend not to follow the guidelines for personal reasons or sometimes for our own benefit as well. I would be very honest with you since you are my friend here. I don't see that you need to sacrifice yourself for your boyfriend. He doesn't deserve the love that you deserve to have.Always think of yourself among other people.It is you in the end who will suffer. Try to love yourself. Try to let him realize as a person or as a girlfriend. Try to divert yourself in doing other things like mylotting and earning money online. in that sense, you enjoy at the same time you earn. there is a person that is destined for you. never lose hope. just enjoy every moment of your life. [b]Be with someone who knows what they have have when they have you![/b] [b] - Rberon- Online Friend[/b]
• United States
1 Nov 12
Thanks rberon, You are right we tend to break guidelines when we feel that it will benefit us. That is the issue he has become so selfish, and only cares about himself. Well, you are right there are more positive things to devote my energy into like myLot, which is actually what I have been doing. It is driving him crazy that I am keeping busy. Even when the sound of a text comes through I do not race to pick up the phone to answer him. He can wait. I am busy enjoying my time posting on myLot. Thank you for your belief that the future holds something better. I very much appreciate your friendship.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
2 Nov 12
Hi aireanna Well, there are only two kinds of relationships that exist - one you are born into and one that you create. For both, there have always been a set of guidelines maybe different for both of them, but they do exist. Whatever be the set of guidelines, they all relate and evaluate to - respect, trust, understanding and love for any relationship (and maybe some more which I might have missed out) - you fail on any one or more, chances are that like a mylot discussion being trashed due to violations, your relation too trashes out. It depends on how much you can take and how much you can give. As for your question - it is not the guidelines that determine how happy a relationship is for you, instead it is you as the individual who decides how far can you go to make that relationship happy and rocking for you. I know, many dont agree with this as their ego or expectations come in between but trust me, if you can let go of that ego and expectations, definitely, you would feel that this is so very true.
• United States
2 Nov 12
thesids, well said. Yes, there are boundary lines. The odd thing is it was just a year that he crossed that line of what I would take. I said, it was over, but I forgave him. I gave him another chance yet. A year later we are at the same situation where he is crossinb boundraries. This time, I really feel like I have all that I can take. It is not worth it, and the sad part is that there really is almost nothing left. It all got destroyed or more adequately like you put it trashed. Thank you for your advice.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
2 Nov 12
Oh dear! That is sad to know. If you still want to give it a try (maybe a last one as in such matters, the last is always which keeps coming back), you can definitely have a plain simple over the table kind of talk with your partner (I am sure you would have tried it earlier, but still, try it out this time without any expectations and egoes.) I am hopeful thinks would start getting better for both of you :)
@mydanods (6513)
• Nigeria
1 Nov 12
when i was in campus, i used to have a mate who the first day he came into the room started reading out a set of guidelines by which he lives his lives. the problem with setting guidelines, which every relationship needs, is: who is approving the guidelines as what both of you should follow "together?" note: together. both of you should follow your personal guidelines and if the relationship works, then both guidelines are compatible. everything in life needs guidelines, aireanna18.
@pollbusy (34)
• Canada
12 Jun 13
In many cases, its better never to argue a point with anyone who u assess will never come in agreement with u. In other words, sometimes, to keep the peace and respect with family and friends, its best to agree to disagree and stop right there. Not a nice thing to become verbal abusive to each other just because one disagrees with either of your points, its that simple. wish u all the best. cheers!!
@francesca5 (1344)
2 Nov 12
it might, but then you would need someone working in admin to delete discussions or comments that violated the guidelines, and that would be where it could go wrong. though in many ways your deciding what is and what is not acceptable is you creating your own guidelines. it could be interesting, if you liked your boyfriend enough, to try, once this conflict is over, to draw up some rules together. if you were mad enough you could appoint a referee, maybe a cuddly toy, to rule when the guidelines had been violated. saying that, i have just remembered that in my current relationship we have two cuddly toys who act out this role, i have no idea how it happened, but when we have a disagreement, they sort of act out a similar argument, and for some reason it defuses the situation. there are historical reasons why this approach was adopted, but maybe you could try and agree some rules and set up an imaginary referee, to decide when they have been violated.