All Relationships Come Down to This
There are people you count as friends. There are people whom you most decidedly do not count as friends. What's the difference? Around your friends you feel good; accepted; nurtured, protected, maybe even loved. You trust your friends; you presume they're there for you, as you're there for them; that they've "got your back," as you have theirs. "Enemies" by definition are not for you, but against you. They don't have your back, they're stabbing you in the back. And for those of us not in third grade, anymore, we probably don't count anyone as an enemy, but there are people we don't number as "friends," either. We just don't feel special around them; there's not a connection or bond we're going to seek out when we need nurture. There are others—friends—that we trust to meet those needs, or at least to wallow with us in our neediness.
That's it. A friend doesn't even have to be successful at meeting our needs; they just have to really, really want to, and feel really badly when they're not able to. That feels great! We feel cared for; connected; nurtured; not alone. There are people in our corner. Friends.
Marriage is more about friendship than about romance. In essence, we get married because we feel good around this person. They make us feel better than does anyone on the planet. In fact, they make us feel so good that we want to make that feeling permanent. Sure, there's romance, but romance without friendship is just sensual. It's emotional and maybe physical, but as enjoyable as those are, they won't sustain a marriage. Marriage is sustained at the level of attachment needs. And attachment needs have more in common with friendship than with passion.
What are attachment needs? They are identified in Attachment Theory as "the bottom line" of human relationships; even of human formation. Ideally, our attachment needs are met by our parents or primary caregivers. They include acceptance, safety, belonging, nurture, comfort, love, and respect. That is, we don't have to "be more like our brother" in order to be loved by mom; we are accepted for who we are and who we aren't. We have a secure sense of belonging the family; we're not threatened with abandonment, or cut lose to fend for ourselves. Our primary protectors actually keep us safe; they don't endanger us. We find nurture and encouragement to become who we're wired to be. When we're hurt, or sad we find comfort in these human relationships. It is in such emotionally and physically safe relationships that we discover love and respect as a human being. From this base of human attachment, we have a place from which to launch and replicate other healthy relationships.
That's where relationships live. All relationships—parents and children, spouses, friendships, neighbors, co-workers. All relationships come down to this... feeling good. Do we make them feel good? Do they make us feel good? "Feeling good" comes down to feeling attached to someone who is safe to be attached to; someone who is there for us, not against us; someone who accepts us, nurtures us, comforts us, loves us; someone who will be there in our time of need. A friend.
Dr. John Gottman of the University of Washington has observed couples in relationship for forty years and concluded that if there is one thing that holds together a marriage more than anything else, it's friendship. That's not very sexy; it's not filled with "romantical" images. But a lover who isn't a friend is a dangerous playmate. If we're going to superglue ourselves to someone for life, better that someone be friendly than merely sexy. Attachment will soon become more important than attraction. In fact, attraction will grow stronger with attachment, as what could be more attractive than someone who is safe, nurturing, accepting, and comforting? Relationships come down to that.