But how do relationships work? What keeps them alive? There have been thousands of studies done to answer this question because so many relationships fail. Some say just love each other, the rest will fall into place. Others encourage communication and honesty. All of these have a good point, but I think that relationships are a lot more complicated than that.
When I think of a relationship, I imagine a tree. Starting out, it is planted by commonalities and similar ways of thinking. As it grows, it is watered by time and care. Not a shallow type of care, but a much deeper care that allows the roots to grow stronger. This care turns into love. Love, in turn, translates to communication, honesty, loyalty, and trust. This looks like a more developed tree with branches and a strong trunk. Over time, there will be storms, overwatering, and maybe a couple broken branches. But through all of this chaos a general consensus of nurturing and learning from these trials this tree will grow stronger and taller. Eventually, the tree should blossom beautiful flowers and these can be shared with others. Passing on what you have learned from your trials and storms will, in turn, lead to more trees being planted and that is a beautiful thing.
Don't be afraid to let your tree to get knocked around a little bit. That's a good thing but allowing it to fall over is probably the worst mistake you can make when those relationships were worth it from the beginning.
