Intentional Relationship Life Cycle

Overview

Humans have a life cycle.
Businesses have a life cycle.
Your relationship has a lifecycle.

As this year winds down and a new one starts,
1) reflect on where you and your partner are in your relationship life cycle and 2) make your choice on how you’ll steer it in 2025.

Issue(s)

Relationships are viewed as a straight line, when in fact they have numerous ups and downs. (Just like any successful business.)

Without thoughtful intention, your relationship can spiral into conflict, decline, and bankruptcy.

But you can avoid this!

Analysis:

There are four phases in your relationship cycle.
Let’s break those down:

Phase 1: Launch (aka. The Honeymoon)

• You’re learning about each other and spending lots of time engaging with each other. You are more accepting of the other person’s actions, even if they don’t align with what you’d prefer or how you’d respond.

Phase 2: Growth

• More significant challenges occur during this time that can easily “make it or break it”. It can feel a bit shaky here.

• You learn how each other approaches conflict, whether you’re each willing to adapt to better respond to one another, and how resilient you are when hit with setbacks or trauma.

• If you communicate and support each other well, you’ll start developing patterns that keep you stable and spur deeper connection and trust.

Phase 3: Maturity

• At this point, you’ve handled some difficult sh*t. Like Gandhi and Magnus Carlson (a chess grandmaster), you approach your relationship with a combination of expertise, curiosity, and calculated moves.

• You have established systems for interacting with one another and possess an intimate understanding of how to best support one another. You may not always walk lock-n-step, but you have synergy when confronting challenges.

• Most of your uncertainty about each other is reduced. You’re in this, and you’re in it together.

Phase 4: Choice
Here’s the real fork in the road.

• You have heard the same stories of each other repeatedly. You’ve settled into repetitive behaviors, conversations, and pastimes.

• It is inevitable. You will either:

  • Decline: fall apart, feel distant, and become detached.

  • Stay Status Quo: maintain what you have - no less, no more.

  • Renew: adapt yourselves and your relationship position and seek unexpected or new ways of connecting and growing.

Solution:

Like a business that reviews its growth every 90 days, you can also get a pulse on your relationship growth. These check-ins help you determine whether to:

• continue with your original intent

• adapt your plan to account for new information

• pivot to an entirely new direction

The key is opening a dialogue with your partner about the stage of your relationship to help determine which decisions or actions you should focus on.

Action:

Review the four stages of a relationship and answer these questions:

1. At what stage of the relationship cycle are my partner and I?

2. What factors did I use to make that determination?

Conclusion:

No matter what phase you’re in, you can remain connected and together if you give it some intentional thought.

For this week’s Growth Subscribers, I’ll be sharing 3 questions or thoughts for each phase of the relationship cycle to help you dig a deeper connection with your partner.

🌱 Let’s grow together,

Michelle @ Partnership Pulse

P.S. If you’re ready to grab the mid-month pulse checks, then Upgrade to the Growth plan today.

P.P.S. Welcome to all the new subscribers who joined us last month! So glad you’re here.