Whether it's with a friend, family member, partner, or coworker, relationships are a lot of work. They ideally involve healthy communication, boundaries, respect, expression of our needs, and self-awareness. That all sounds great, but how the heck do we actually do those things?

These aren't necessarily life lessons taught to all of us when we were growing up and trying to understand how to navigate the world and each other. Instead, we often took cues from observing other people's unhealthy patterns, or even messages from the media. When we have unrealistic expectations and ineffective tools of communication, we are bound to hit some pretty heavy bumps along the relationship road. 

Perhaps you are expecting a partner to fix all of your past hurts or you believe that your mom should just "know" what you want from her. Maybe it's scary to trust a friend because past experiences have taught you to never rely on anyone but yourself. There are a number of ways that our desire for connection with others becomes halted, leaving us unfulfilled. Sometimes the defences that we built to keep us safe from harm are the very things blocking us from experiencing a true connection with others.  

If this is something that you would like to change in your life, feel free to reach out for more information.

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