Want to See If Your Relationship Will Last? Assemble Furniture Together

Want to know if you and your significant other are compatible? Build a piece of furniture together.

The emotional roller coaster that you will most likely experience will tell you everything you need to know about the person you are dating, and thankfully, my husband and I passed the test this weekend when we decided to build our new bed set.

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When our new bed frame and nightstands arrived at our home, they came in giant boxes completely unassembled. We took one look at the directions and the dozens of pieces now strewn across our empty bedroom and I knew we were in for the ultimate relationship test.

I like DIY projects and my husband likes to help, but when you have two people looking to take the lead, tensions rise. While I wanted to casually browse the step-by-step instructions, my husband was adamant about following every single word. When I tightened a screw, he needed to make it a little tighter. The further we got into the project, the more stressed I got because I simply wanted to do it myself.

But here is what I learned about myself and my husband. For me, I’m a control freak. I would rather just do it myself than ask for help, even if the help will make the job much easier.

My husband, he’s a natural-born leader, so even if he is not familiar with furniture making, something in his DNA requires him to take the lead in any project.

This little home project taught me that sometimes, I need to take a step back and allow my husband to work alongside me. I was able to put my ego aside and take the back seat for a change. For my husband, I’m proud of his communication skills. He desperately wanted to have all the answers and efficiently get the job done, but instead, he allowed me to help, in turn allowing our communication to improve.

In a matter of a few hours, we went from excited to agitated and back to excited as we navigated each other’s feelings.

So, if you’re in a new relationship or looking to get more serious with someone, consider tackling a project together. How that person handles a stressful situation will tell you a lot about them.