Relationship Advice - Should You Ask Family and Friends For Advice on Your Relationship Issues?

When you are in an intimate relationship, sometimes it can be hard to keep all the personal aspects about your partner to yourself. For women especially, it sometimes is critical to have an outlet where you can discuss problems that you are having within your relationship. The problem is many people share these private matters with the wrong people. Instead of going to a counselor or therapist, they start telling their friends and family intimate details about conflicts they are having with their partner. This can be a very big problem that is best to be avoided.

When you tell your friends and family negative things about your partner, you risk causing long-term problems in the relationship. Let's say you and your partner have a big fight about money. You decide to tell your mother about the fight because you want to vent. Not only do you tell her about the money fight, but you start giving her a laundry list of criticisms about your relationship. You tell her some of the nasty things that your partner has said to you in anger. Of course, you don't share all of the things you have said back.

A few days later, you and your partner have made up and are like two love birds again. Meanwhile, your mother will never again feel the same about your partner because you have shared these intimate details with her. You see, your friends and family don't get to "make up" with your partner. They go on with anger and frustration in their minds and hearts. Even though you may be enjoying the relationship again, they will never feel quite the same. This is why it's not a great idea to share these private details outside of your relationship unless it is within the confines of a therapy situation.

One other thing you need to think about before you ask for relationship advice is who are you asking? In other words, if you had a serious financial problem would you ask a broke, homeless person for advice? The answer is probably no. If you are asking for relationship advice from people who have not had great success in their own relationships, you are asking for trouble again. This is why speaking with a pastor or counselor is often a better bet because you get to keep your information private and get advice from someone who has experience in that particular area.