The Rules of Love, 3rd Edition

RULE 70

Put yourself in their shoes

You probably reckon you know your partner pretty well. You spend most of your time with them, you share all the important things in life together, you talk about yourselves and your feelings to each other. Yep, you probably do know them better than anyone. But don’t let that lull you into thinking you know them perfectly.

Think about the thoughts and ideas and feelings you have that you don’t tell your partner. Maybe they’re just not important enough, maybe you’re embarrassed, maybe they’re such distant memories it doesn’t occur to you to share them, maybe you don’t understand them yourself. And yes, maybe there are even a few secrets you don’t really want them to know (nothing too dreadful, I hope).

There’s ...