Have you heard the saying, “happy wife, happy life?” When it comes to marriage that saying is only half true. Although, you can read endless books on the topic, those of us currently living the dream, will tell you there is one critical component to staying happily married.

Many times married couples feel pressure to conform to one partners needs giving up a little bit of what they want in the meantime. However, in order for your marriage to be balanced and happy, it requires commitment from both partners. A happy marriage consists of understanding each other’s hopes and dreams and then helping make them into a reality. It’s called compromise! Crazy simple, right?

Not really, compromise has a range of definitions and depending on how long you have been married, it will look different for each couple. Compromise can be as simple as deciding where to go for dinner, or where to go on vacation. Other times, it can be as serious as, are we aligned on our financial goals, what are we willing to give up in order to be truly happy, or will we have children? But the key in all scenarios is to understand each other’s dreams and then compromise to make them a reality.

Someone once told me, remember marriage isn’t 50-50, divorce is, marriage has to be 100-100. It’s not about splitting everything into yours, and mine but rather both partners giving everything 100% of the time.