10 Easy Ways to Accidentally Ruin Your Relationship

Those comfortable silences have become less and less, with your mind constantly on work while your partner now reads the paper during dinner. If a couple can't have idle conversation, there's no way they're talking about honest and frank discussions about important things. Real talk needs to happen or else a relationship disintegrates. Communication is key.

Nothing is more annoying than speaking to someone who isn't listening. There's a big difference between hearing the words coming out of one's mouth and actually processing said words. It's a lack of respect that no person deserves, particularly from their significant other.

Always assuming your person is going to be there is simply a bad move. Make sure to acknowledge your partner's efforts (and it doesn't even have to be all the time!), then they'll know their gesture—small or grand—was noticed.

Yes, we get it, you love her but you don't have to constantly be up her butt to show her. If you're constantly in one another's faces it can become a bit much. No matter what anyone says, couples need alone time or else the balance between two people can start to shift, with one person doing all the work while the other just lets it happen.

It easy to acknowledge flaws and mistakes over the good things. But by constantly complaining about your significant other can be detrimental to your relationship. Any relationship actually.

If one of you always has their defences up, that's never a good thing. Communicate in a way that fosters intimacy, not resentment.

Even the most "constructive" criticism can lead to your partner getting his back up. If he becomes defensive, you need to know when to back down because someone constantly on the defensive might start to have a flight or fight response.

He calls her a nag, she calls him an idiot. It's a vicious cycle. But what's a woman to do when her man can't pick up after himself or do anything, really, without needing some sort of praise. It gets to the point where the person playing both partner and parent slowly starts to lose it they need to confront that — or live a lifetime of bitter misery. No passive-aggressiveness here, thank you very much.

Yeah, yeah, fighting is bad — but not always. Both of you should not only be able to convey your thoughts and opinions but also hear what your partner has to say and not lose it if differs from you. If one is always overpowering while the other just takes it, that's going to lead to resentment down the road. All couples fight (or should); it's how you end one at the end of the day that matters most.

This one's tricky because you probably knew from Day 1 that this person might have some control issues. But it was easy to let that get swept under the rug because he or she's so sweet and caring. But eventually their "suggestions" start to sound more like demands. And them making all the decisions without asking for your thoughts is irksome. And you can't even start with their ultimatums. You need to be emotionally equipped to handle this person, otherwise it's the one where it might be better if you went your separate ways. It all depends on your level of commitment, confronting a problem head-on and deciding what's best for both of you.