Life Commitment Takes Work, But Can Be Rewarding | LMAC Collage FreeStyle No. 36

For my Freestyle Collage No. 36, my theme is "life commitment in a romantic relationship". Humans enter romantic relationships for a variety of reasons. They may have good intentions at the outset. Some may even experience a lasting relationship. However, sometimes those relationships do not work out for a multitude of reasons.

In my life experience, I reviewed the definition of a committed relationship.

"A committed relationship is an interpersonal relationship based upon agreed-upon commitment to one another involving love, trust, honesty, openness, or some other behavior. Forms of committed relationships include close friendship, long-term relationships, engagement, marriage, and civil unions." ¹

A committed relationship usually means that both partners have agreed ahead of time to work towards building a long-term connection. The agreement may be based upon an exclusive connection.

That means only the two people are involved. This type of relationship involves a high level of dedication and the willingness to work toward making the relationship their main priority.

In a committed relationship, both partners should be invested in each other emotionally.

That means they are committed to ensuring each will always take into consideration the other partner's well-being. This commitment includes both physical and mental well-being.

In dealing with romantic relationships, I feel the word "always" implies a condition that is extremely difficult to achieve. Even harder is a partner's ability to maintain it.

I know for a fact that I have difficulty maintaining a proper perspective in all situations that arise.

No one is perfect. No one can assure that their actions will be correct at all times, in all occasions, and under all circumstances. It is impossible to place that burden upon another person. What can be done is to continually strive to be the best partner they can be at all times.

In doing this, each partner's needs should be made thoroughly clear. Expectations are that each partner's needs and any desires should become a priority.

The most important aspect of this expectation is support in whatever form or fashion is required. That way, they both can work together to overcome any challenges that arise.

Commitment in a relationship also involves trust, honesty, time, and open communication. If both partners are willing to share their innermost feelings and thoughts, a lasting relationship can develop.

This deep connection can foster a sense of stability, trust, understanding, and intimacy. Emotional intimacy, I feel, is just as important as physical intimacy.

Being in a committed relationship means that both partners are willing to put in the effort to make the relationship work. Building a strong foundation based upon mutual respect and admiration, with the goal of building a strong and lasting connection, should be foremost.²

However, after all this, numerous relationships fail. Blaming each other without examining the underlying reasons only furthers the divide.

If a relationship does not survive, the partners may move on, but have not learned any valuable lessons as to their part in the breakup.

As far as romantic relationships are concerned, I feel one of the major reason for failure might fail is due to trust issues. Other conflicts are important also, such as fidelity, different personalities and ideals, and finally, differences in expectations and goals is another reason.

The main reason for severe issues in a romantic relationship that I have long witnessed is the failure to communicate. In any relationship, communication is at the forefront. This is especially true of romantic relationships.

Emotional intelligence comes into play when communicating on all levels.

If both partners are not emotionally stable to conduct meaningful conversions on any issue they may be experiencing, the relationship is in peril and may not survive.

In preparing my freestyle theme, I wanted to portray a couple in a romantic setting where they are spending quality time connecting with each other. Including the original contest image from LMAC Round 176 as the lower landscape and the image from a free source of a couple in the woods.

Below are the additional images I included to complete my theme:

In order to blend all images, I uploaded them into Canva. This design program I use in conjunction with my upgraded Annual Pro Membership Subscription. Some of the features allow me to remove backgrounds, add colors, and apply various filters.

First, I added the background images mentioned above. The primary image is the couple in the forest. I moved it to the top of the canvas.

To the LMAC contest image, I removed the background sky, then applied the color "black". Changing the color enabled it to fade so as not to conflict with the dramatic colors in the forest image.

Next, I added the remaining images. Selecting the white rose I feel lighted up the background. The other images from the LIL and my fractals completed the scene. The fractals resembled dancing lights in the background to set the mood of romance for the couple.

Rounding out the theme were the butterflies and gulls, together with the image the couple is admiring in the sky.

Below is the completed freestyle collage:

Thanks for visiting. I hope you liked my freestyle collage theme.