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What does trust mean to a man?

Trust in a relationship means you believe that your partner is reliable and has your best interests in their hearts. It means you have faith and confidence in them. And you feel emotionally and physically safe with them, just as they do with you.

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By Theo Harrison

Why Trust In A Relationship Is More Important Than Love

“I trust you is a better compliment than I love you because you may not always trust the person you love but you can always love the person you trust.” – Anonymous Love feels great. Entering a new romantic relationship can feel truly amazing with exciting dates filled with laughter, long walks at late nights, curling up together on the couch to watch horror movies and those passionate kisses. But what doesn’t feel great is being in a relationship without trust. When the love and excitement are replaced with doubt and fear, that’s when things start to turn ugly. And this is why trust in a relationship is sometimes more important than love. The fact is we all have baggage and whether willingly or not, we bring that baggage into our relationships. Whether you’re dealing with childhood trauma or trying to overcome infidelity in your previous relationship, our past always affects our relationships in one way or the other. That’s why trust forms the core of any relationship. Trust is crucial for relationship success and satisfaction. However, trust is also fragile. Once it breaks, it can be really really hard to rebuild it in a relationship.

What do you mean by trust?

“Trust is letting go of needing to know all the details before you open your heart.” – Anonymous Trust in a relationship means you believe that your partner is reliable and has your best interests in their hearts. It means you have faith and confidence in them. And you feel emotionally and physically safe with them, just as they do with you. It means you expect respect, integrity, loyalty, and honesty in your relationship. You expect your partner to keep promises and secrets, and to support you when the tides get rough. However, trust also means that you understand your partner and forgive them when they break promises and agreements. You cannot have trust in a relationship if one partner is willing while the other one is unwilling. Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free In a healthy relationship, both partners will express their trust in different ways, like:

Being compassionate

Having faith in them regardless of who they spend time with

Being considerate of their need

Listening, understanding and supporting them

Not dominating or controlling their partner

Being considerate and caring

Doing what they said they would

Believing that your partner knows what’s best for them

Trying to resolve conflicts in a mature and healthy manner

Respecting personal boundaries

Being respectful towards their partner

Feeling safe and making them feel safe

Relying on your partner without being dependant

Focusing on building a deep connection

Being reliable and available when they need you

Respecting their boundaries

Not doubting or checking up on them frequently

Giving them the freedom to live life their own way

Trusting each other gives you the freedom to be your genuine self in the relationship. You and your partner can build trust in your relationship gradually and naturally by loving and caring for each other. However, you cannot force someone to trust you nor you demand it. It will take time to develop trust in your relationship.

Is trust more important than love?

“We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone – but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.” – Walter Anderson

Although you might be keen on saying that love is the most important part of a relationship, I would say that it is trust that is most important in any relationship, romantic or otherwise. Take a moment to truly think about it. Imagine a relationship without trust – you and your spouse/partner love each other a lot, however, you don’t necessarily trust them. Now when they tell you they will be going for a business trip over the weekend, how would you feel? Would you feel that they are working hard to give you a good life? Or would you think that they are having an affair with someone from work? Most likely you would think that your partner is cheating on you. You will lose your peace of mind. You will start doubting them. You will keep checking their laptops and phone. You will try to track them. You will ask them a lot of questions. You will have arguments and fights. And this will lead to the probable end of the relationship. Love without trust doesn’t look that good. Does it?

A relationship can easily turn into a nightmare if there’s no trust in it. Your relationship will gradually become unhealthy, dysfunctional, chaotic and toxic. And that is a recipe for disaster. Trust is crucial for your relationship to thrive. Trust is essential to love and feel loved. Did you know that lack of trust is the reason why most people end their relationships? The Relationships Surveys Indicators 2011 claims that among the top 4 causes of relationship breakdowns, lack of trust is the most common. Trust is the foundation on which your relationship survives the toughest seasons of life. A relationship without trust will never sustain for a long time, regardless of how much you love each other.

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“Trust is built when someone is vulnerable and not taken advantage of.” – Bob Vanourek In case you’re still wondering, here 11 solid reasons why trust is important and the driving factor in a healthy relationship:

1. Trust & love go hand in hand

If you knew that a person would definitely cheat on you, would you still choose to love them? No. you won’t. No one wants to get their heart broken deliberately. As rational human beings, we can only love people we trust. It is the building block of a relationship. Love is born out of trust. You still may be attracted to that person, but you can’t love them. A relationship that is not based on trust will never survive the test of time.

2. You can finally heal yourself

As I said earlier, most of us have baggage from previous relationships. Trusting your new partner will help you heal from previous emotional wounds. It will empower you to move on and liberate you, giving you the strength to love openly once again.

3. You become a better person

When you trust your partner, you don’t feel uncertain or insecure about spending time apart. You become more open to giving space to your partner. As a result, you can find more time for yourself without worrying about your relationship. This allows both of you to focus on your self-development and become better human beings and partners.

4. Trust leads to acceptance

When you and your partner trust each other, you don’t seek or feel the need to give justifications for every single thing you do. There is no need for explaining yourself as you understand your spouse and their decisions and actions. This helps you accept them as they are without wanting to change them to fit your perception of the ideal partner.

5. It reassures your relationship

At times, we all tend to doubt and wonder if our partner loves us as much we love them. Due to the daily grind, we are mostly unable to shower our partners with love or express our feelings towards them. This can start building a distance between partners. But with trust, you are reassured that your spouse or partner loves you irrespective of the busy schedules, fights, and arguments. Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free

6. You get closer by facing obstacles

With trust, your relationship can conquer the biggest obstacles. Every relationship goes through some challenges. Trust helps to create a stronger bond that helps to overcome any and all differences in your relationship. When you feel secure and safe with your partner, you will feel confident about your relationship, your self, and your life.

7. You can control emotions better

When it comes to a relationship, it’s all about emotions. However, things can get awry when your emotions get out of hand. Being emotional individuals, we invest ourselves in building meaningful relationships because we value a person. When you trust your partner, you will know better and choose to overlook their irritating behavior. If they hurt you for some reason, trust enables you to realize that there is some reason for their behavior. This helps you to develop a healthy, long-lasting relationship.

8. Love may be blind, Trust is not

It is hard to trust someone. You need to be vulnerable enough to let someone into your life and trust then enough to love them from your heart. But when that trust is shattered, it makes you more rational and logical, unlike love which makes us blind to the many flaws of our relationship. Love makes us afraid but trust empowers us.

9. It boosts your confidence

Trust can actually help you achieve more in life. When you know that the person you love will be there to support you and love you even when you fail, you feel an inner strength to face and overcome even the harshest challenges. Your partner will give you the confidence to learn new skills and take new initiatives to achieve your dreams and goals.

10. Trust makes you more positive

“People who choose to trust tend to be happier, better liked by others, and more ethical than less trusting people.” – Joy Cagil A relationship without trust slowly turns you into a negative person by making you insecure, doubtful, envious and disappointed. However, trusting your partner helps you develop a positive mindset and personality. As you are not engulfed by negative emotions, you can love more openly and use that positive vibe in other aspects of your life. You’ve had your trust broken in the past. We all have. And it hurts. But trusting someone allows you to love again. It helps you to find happiness again. Once your trust is broken, you get more cautious about trusting people and this helps you to find the right person who will give you the love you deserve. Although you shouldn’t trust just about anyone, you will be more than willing to take the risk when you meet the right person. Trust will come as a natural emotion and you will learn to love again. As long as you realize that your new partner and your old partner are not the same person and not everyone out there is hellbent on breaking your heart, you will find the strength to trust again. Remember that trust is a choice. When you go into a relationship with a new person, you choose to trust them. Once you make your choice, honor your decision.

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How to build trust in your relationship

“In order to establish trust, it is first important that you be trustworthy. This means you should be forthright with all your dealings.” – Paul Melendez Wondering how you can cultivate trust in a relationship? Here are some basic and simple ways for you to get started:

1. Openly communicate with your partner

The first thing you need to do is talk to your partner. And I mean really talk with them. Talk about the things that matter to you. Talk about your feelings and emotions. Talk about your concerns, insecurities, and worries. Let them know if anything they did has disappointed you. Ask them the same and listen. Don’t listen to respond. But listen to understand. Once you talk, you will have more clarity about their behaviors and decisions and they will understand you better as well. Communicating in a mature way is the very core of a healthy relationship.

2. Set defined boundaries

Make sure you have defined clear boundaries that both you and your partner can accept. This is crucial for cultivating trust in any relationship. Find out about what makes your partner feel anxious and worried and what are probable deal breakers and let her know about yours. Once you set personal boundaries and agree to them, respect each other to stick to it.

3. Talk about commitment

It is important that you sit down with your partner and talk about what commitment means to both of you. Once you are on the same page regarding commitment, figure out how this may influence you and your partner’s future together. Most of us have various expectations when it comes to commitment. This is what leads to confusion, complications and a lack of trust among romantic partners. So it is a good idea to talk about it and have clarity about the future of the relationship. Here are some other ways to build trust in your relations and create a stronger, more intimate bond: Admit your faults and mistakes when you screw things up. Don’t cover up or deny your mistakes. Learn to forgive each other and be humble enough to let go of past problems and issues. Try to be as caring, faithful, honest and responsible as you can. Your partner will reciprocate your behavior.

Listen and understand when your partner talks to you without judging them.

Make sure you keep your promises every time you make them. Breaking even the smallest promise can break trust in a big way. Show your partner that you are interested in doing activities that she likes. Know her hobbies & tastes and help her accomplish her goals. Understand your partner, empathize with them and try to successfully fulfill their needs. Solve issues and arguments in a calm and mature way. Don’t accuse or blame her. Do not avoid problems either. If she has shared something very intimate and personal with you, keep it to yourself. Respect and guard their privacy. Respect your partner and try not to judge or criticize them for every single mistake they make. Be a supportive romantic partner and help them in doing what they want, taking risks and achieving goals.

Trust leads to love

“Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities of which they were previously unaware.” – David Armistead It will take a lot of time, effort and patience to build trust in your relationship. Moreover, both you and your partner will need to be willing to trust each other and give one another a good reason to trust. As it is difficult to earn trust from your partner, make sure not to do anything to break that trust. Be as committed, dedicated, caring and consistent as you can in the relationship. Once trust is established in the relationship, it will help you love each other on a deeper level and find true happiness.

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A version of this post was previously published on TheMindsJournal and is republished here with permission from the author.

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