The Conflict Stage: An Inevitable Phase of Every Relationship. Will It Make or Break You Two?

image by Alex Iby from Unsplash.com

The conflict stage is likely to be a jarring departure from the starry-eyed, lust laden period of the “honeymoon phase.” It can also be a startling one that causes people to feel insecure in their relationships. They might wonder, why have things gotten harder all of a sudden? Why, now, do I actually find them kind of annoying at times? I thought I was in love with them! So maybe now, I’m not anymore. Maybe this means the relationship isn’t a good one after all.

Not so fast.

The conflict stage, contrary to what many people might assume, is an inevitable part of every single relationship. Yes, all relationships will go through it.

Here is the key: either the conflict stage makes you stronger and is one through which you navigate together, or, it chips away at your relationship, exposes all the ways in which it may not work so well after all, and then leads to the end of the relationship.

Let’s pause for a minute, rewind, and start with the fun stuff though.

The Honeymoon Phase: everyone’s favorite part. During this phase, you cannot get enough of your new love. Everything they do sends you into fits of smitten. You want to be around them as much as possible. You hang on their every word. You long to know everything about them. Making out with them is way sexy and erotic. Being in their company still sets your stomach aflutter, your heart racing. Seeing them naked is especially hot and thrilling. When you aren’t in their presence, you are most certainly thinking about and missing them. You’re on your best behavior. You pull out all the romantic stops, from sending flowers to writing love letters, surprising them with a weekend away, sending them a book of poems (or even better, writing them a poem), cooking them dinner, etc.

During the honeymoon phase, you see this person as new and thrilling. They are novel and thus, not someone you yet take for granted.

This is also the period of a relationship when you see one another in your best lights. Some…