When I began work on the RELATE tool I believed that it would be something that would be of no use to me when applied to my real life. Now that it is completed, I don't know if I will take it into consideration in future relationships. However, after reading its input on me, it has opened my eyes to some possible changes that could benefit me in the future. When I started this project I was concerned that not having a current girlfriend might flaw the program and thus, do me no good whatsoever. I decided that the best route to take was simply to call a serious girlfriend that I had dated prior to completing this exercise. After speaking with her and completing the RELATE I feel as if I understand more the problems that her and I faced in our relationship that eventually led to our breakup. It is because of that I feel that this exercise was indeed helpful to me.
In the personal context of the RELATE I had a number of strengths and a number of weaknesses. Even though the weaknesses were a minority among all categories, they were present nonetheless. First off, Kindness and flexibility are strength areas in me in that I try to be a good person to all who are around and I am pretty easy-going nowadays. Emotional readiness, however, is a challenge area, now I am far from the red zone on the graph but I am not in the green; I believe that I am just a little immature. Also, I try and tell myself that religion would not be a factor in finding a partner because I know I can love someone who does not believe what I believe, however, I have found that in the past I have been bothered by girlfriends saying things that I can't help but be offended by concerning religion. According to RELATE I am by no means a religious fanatic but it is a challenge area for me during an important relationship. Also, and I can't say I agree with this assessment, the exercise stated that a challenge area for both myself and my partner is alcohol use.
