Looking for a recipe that has all of the exact characteristics needed to create a perfect and long-lasting relationship?

Below are nine characteristics that are essential to creating a strong and happy relationship that lasts.

Friendship

Are they your person? When something fun, exciting, sad or traumatic happens, are they the person you want to run and tell everything to?

Having a genuine friendship is a vital characteristic of a strong and stable relationship. Talking to, hanging out with and working through problems with someone who looks at you not only as their significant other but also as their friend is powerful. Friendship is crucial to maintaining a strong relationship.

Humor

Can you laugh together?

Inside jokes, being able to read each other's minds and finishing each other's sentences are strong indicators a couple can laugh and experience the joys in life together. Humor is important to relationships because it lightens those serious and stressful moods that can and will occur.

Communication

Can you communicate?

Communication is essential to lasting relationships. It creates an environment that allows each individual to openly and fearlessly express their feelings in a safe and non-judgemental space. Strong communication allows couples to extinguish frustration before it ignites and creates a larger and more intense problem.

Delegation

Are you doing everything for the relationship?

Sharing is caring. Couples who share mundane responsibilities (dusting, mopping, picking up the laundry, etc.) create a fairer way of tackling life. Together, divvying out chores and expectations equally creates a safe system to rely on and not to complain about.

Intimacy

How often are you intimate?

Couples who communicate expectations regarding their sexual needs have healthy relationships. Establish a balance. Make sure both of your needs are being taken care of and respected. There is no right or wrong amount of intimacy. Strong couples determine the best amount for them and go from there.

Affection

Are you affectionate every day?

Secure couples perform daily acts of affection and tend to be happier and more connected to one another. Whether you kiss each other before work, hug every time you each get home or text one another "I love you" every day, displaying affection will make you closer and happier.

Balance

Do you have date nights and girls/guys nights?

Couples who respect and acknowledge the need for each person to have other friendships have a healthy relationship. It is equally important to develop and maintain your own friendship as a couple by going on regular one-on-one dates. Both types of nights out are crucial to the social stability of the couple.

Reliability

Are you with someone who is reliable?

Relationships centered on reliability are the healthiest and most trustworthy. The ability to ask your partner for help and know without a shadow of a doubt they will follow through is comforting and stabilizing.

Commitment

Do you see a future together?

A strong couple envisions a prosperous future together. The two people discuss where they are currently, where they want to be in the future and how they want to get there. There is never a doubt that your future will be with one another.