Living in truth with your partner: How telling the truth in small things can help build lasting trust in relationships

Imagine meeting a complete stranger and feeling like you’ve known them forever. Imagine loving and enjoying that stranger’s company so much that you both decide to share the rest of your days together. This is an amazing blessing that should be treasured and nourished. 

What is Love?

To me, love is about accepting your partner wholeheartedly. Loving them for their beauty and their flaws. I know from experience that the best gift you can ever give to someone is to love them unconditionally.  

Secondly, something we all value and hold dear to our hearts; honesty and trust. The only way you can build this in your relationship is through open and vulnerable communication.  And through absolute (and sometimes brutal) honesty. You have to be willing to practice truth and vulnerability when you’re in a relationship. 

How to Practice and Live Truth in Your Relationship

I’ve found that being honest about the smallest things can teach you a lot about the person you’re with, and raise your confidence in each other. For example, if either of you are going to be late for a date, make it a habit to say so in advance, so that the other knows what the situation is from the get-go.

I also know from my own past and friend’s experiences that this is not the norm. Most people tend to lie about the small things thinking that ‘white lies’ are okay, forgetting that what you do in one situation is what you’ll do in all situations. 

Once you make it okay to tell a ‘little’ lie, you’ll eventually be okay with telling bigger lies and eventually breaking the trust in your relationship.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind values such as ‘doing unto others as you’d have them do unto you’. How do you feel when your partner is lying to you? Well, that’s the exact same way they feel when you lie to them! 

Being mindful of our actions towards others and treating them as we prefer to be treated is the key to being vulnerable.

How Lies Affect Trust

You partner may not show it, but the more you tell small lies, the less trust they have for you. Like a small ripple of water that creates grooves on a rock, over time this leads to a crack in your relationship. For best results, don’t compromise the integrity and trust in your relationship. Keep it straight and tell the truth. 

Be Open

Another way to level up your relationship is through your feelings. Share your feelings about behaviours that you don’t like in your partner, especially if it’s something that really bothers you. And there’s a huge difference between a flaw that you find cute and a bad quality that you know you can’t live with. 

Opening up about those things can literally save your relationship. Keeping small irritations or grievances inside, instead of sharing them with your partner, will only serve to create a rift in your relationship.

When you share these things with your partner you might even find that they weren’t aware of your feelings, or that they weren’t aware that their habit or actions were hurtful to you. And through communication, you’ll strengthen your bond and trust in one another.

Lastly, if you can’t be vulnerable and honest with your partner, who can you be honest and vulnerable with? Lack of communication, dishonesty, and resistance to opening up, usually lead to cheating and broken hearts. So, don’t do it. 

Treasure the one you’re with. Give your best to them and treasure the blessing of having a companion to share life with.