According to the Pew Research Center, 60% of married couples are in their first marriage. 23% of married people had been married to someone else before.

Whether you want your first marriage to last a lifetime or want to avoid failing at a second one, it’s important to learn how to keep a relationship exciting.

This guide will offer tips to help you do that. Keep reading to learn what they are.

1. Surprise Each Other

If you want to learn how to keep the spark in a relationship you should start by surprising one another every chance you get. The fastest way to get stuck in a relationship is to fall into a routine. This can make things boring.

Keep things exciting by surprising your partner with something they weren’t expecting. A bouquet on a regular day, making their favorite meal when they’ve had a long week, planning a weekend beach trip are just a few ideas you can use to surprise the love of your life.

2. Ask for What You Want

To keep the spark alive in your relationship you should first know what that means for you specifically. Every person wants different things out of their relationship and from their partner so instead of waiting for these things, you need to ask for what you want.

When you both know what you want you’ll be a happier couple. Asking for what you want extends to every part of the relationship, whether it’s sexual or a project you need to be completed at home.

3. Try New Things

One of the best ways to keep things exciting in a relationship is to try new things as a couple. Work or school, taking care of children, and chores can become a routine that takes the life out of your marriage.

You can’t grow in your love if you aren’t willing to push each other past your limits. To thrive you need to have new experiences as a couple.

Do something fun every chance you get. You can try a new type of cuisine every weekend. If your partner enjoys outdoor sports, you can try a new one together.

4. Travel Together

There are so many benefits to traveling including seeing more of the world and learning about new places and cultures. When you travel as a couple you’ll see and learn these things together.

Travel changes you as a person, it makes you grow and appreciate how wonderful life is. Doing this alongside your life partner will enrich your relationship in a new way.

It’ll bring you closer together and help you appreciate the love you have in your life.

5. Physical Touch Is Key

Other relationship tips you should know include understanding the importance of physical touch. This doesn’t necessarily mean sex, although that’s an important part of any romantic relationship.

Physical touching can include lots of things like hugs, holding hands, cuddling, or massaging. These physical touches release oxytocin in your brain, the feel-good hormone.

These small gestures can create more emotional intimacy in your relationship. It’s a way for you to keep your relationship alive without the focus being on the sexual component of your relationship.

6. Spend Some Time Apart

Spending time away from your partner can bring you closer together. When you’re with the same person day in and out, it’s hard to miss them.

While you don’t have to go months without seeing your significant other, it’s still important to have your own separate lives. When you work apart, have hobbies you enjoy by yourself, you’ll have things you can talk about when you come back together.

Having your own friends and life outside of your relationship is crucial to living a well-balanced life.

7. Date Nights Are Important

Just like spending quality time apart is important for a relationship so is spending quality time together. Keeping the excitement in a relationship requires work and planning.

One thing important thing every relationship needs is date nights. Early on in your relationship, you might have spent a lot of time going out to dinners or planning fun trips but those days tend to dwindle the longer you’re in a relationship.

Responsibilities and life get in the way. Quality time together will turn into watching TV in bed. Date nights where you both dress up and get out of the house are vital to the success of your relationship.

8. Be More Present

When you first met your significant other it was probably easy to be mesmerized by their every word. It’s exciting to get to know someone new that you like a lot.

The more time you spend with someone the more that excitement wanes. It doesn’t mean you don’t love one another but the honeymoon phase always ends.

To keep things as exciting as they were at the beginning you need to practice being more present. This means that you need to put your phone and other distractions away when you’re having a meal or conversation with your partner.

9. Communication Is Necessary

Communication is the key to all successful relationships. Being open and vulnerable with one another is the only way to grow and the only way to keep things exciting.

When you have a problem, talk things out. Communicate about the insecurities you’re feeling as you spend more time together, your partner might be feeling the same thing. When you talk to each other you’ll be able to move past anything you’re struggling with.

10. Change Things up in the Bedroom

Another way to keep the excitement in a marriage is to change up your bedroom practices. After spending years with the same person, you know their body well.

While this can cause difficulties in your sex life there are ways to resolve them. Trying new things in the bedroom can make it seem like you’re getting to know a new person again.

Whether it’s incorporating sex toys you haven’t tried or trying new positions, there are endless possibilities to enrich your sex life. Find out here something new you can try as a couple.

11. Apologize When You Need to

Everyone makes mistakes, that’s what makes you human. Most often the things that keep couples from working through their issues is when partners can’t admit to their wrongdoings and apologize.

Not owning up to your mistakes can create resentment that will eventually ruin your relationship. Take the time to talk through where you both went wrong and apologize when you’ve messed up.

This will help you both move on and can bring you closer togetherĀ as a couple.

12. Take Big Risks

You’ll never grow if you don’t take a few risks in life. This same logic applies to your relationship too. Keeping the spark alive means taking risks in your relationship.

If you’ve been with your partner for a long time your next big step might be marriage. Even if you think things won’t change, marriage is always a scary step.

Another big risk is moving to a new city together. What better way to keep things in your relationship exciting and grow together than to start from scratch somewhere new. This allows you to see new places and make new friends together.

13. Express How You Feel

It seems simple but expressing your feelings is another way you can keep your love alive. During the honeymoon stage of your relationship spending hours on the phone talking about how you feel, saying “I love you” all the time, was easy to do.

Keeping up with that years into a relationship is vital. Tell your partner how much you love them each day. Write them love letters or send them a text in the middle of the day to let them know you’re thinking about them.

14. Work on Improving Yourself

What often makes a relationship fail is pointing out what you don’t like in your partner. Telling your partner what they’re doing wrong can make them feel bad about themselves and can negatively affect your relationship.

Instead of telling your partner what they need to change, look within yourself and try to improve each day. When your partner notices what you’re doing to keep your relationship going, they’ll feel inspired to do the same.

15. Appreciate Each Other

To keep things exciting tell your partner how much you appreciate them each day. Point out the little things they do to make life better.

Tell them how proud you are of their hard work. This will help your love grow.

Learn How to Keep a Relationship Exciting With These Tips

If you want to learn how to keep a relationship exciting, the tips in the guide above can help you out. You can try changing things up in the bedroom or going on more date nights.

Check out some of the other relationship-type blogs on our site if you found this one helpful.