7. Lay out your expectations—all of them.
Sometimes we expect that our partner will sit across from us at breakfast every morning and hold a cheerful conversation, when in fact your partner is not a morning person and doesn’t want to be verbal before that first cup of coffee. Your feelings are going to be hurt, right? Have these conversations in advance instead of assuming that things will just go the way you want them to go. It’s like giving somebody a how-to guide. They may not agree with it, and they may not meet all your needs or expectations, but at least they’ll know what they are. Then, when they sit mute across from you, poking their eggs, you don’t blow a gasket.