{"id":3700,"date":"2020-02-06T16:08:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T16:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svmarriagecoun.wpengine.com\/?p=3700"},"modified":"2020-02-06T16:08:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T16:08:32","slug":"the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many people, the word relationship has become a byword for two people who are romantically and sexually involved with each other. This however, presents a very narrow view of the range of important connections human beings need to sustain healthy lives.<\/p>\n

Friendships, for instance, are some of the most important relationships you will make in your life. And while it can be easy to neglect your friendships as you deepen your bond with your spouse, doing so will only harm your marriage in the long run.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why friendships outside of marriage are important for you and your marriage.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They Keep You Healthy and Living Longer<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to research<\/u><\/a>\u00a0by a Harvard-affiliated institute, meaningful relationships are crucial to sustaining better mental, physical, and emotional health. Maintaining meaningful friendships plays a significant role in health, longevity, and happiness.<\/p>\n

Social connections and the quality of those connections strongly determine people\u2019s health and happiness. Relationships that are conflict-ridden tend to affect health adversely\u2014as does loneliness.<\/p>\n

They Help You To Pursue and Realize Your Goals<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

While you may have found a lot in common with your spouse during the early stages of your dating and married life, over time, you may have come to recognize glaring differences in interests. This can make pursuing such interests difficult when your partner doesn\u2019t share your enthusiasm and drive.<\/p>\n

Making friends who share your interests and goals can provide you an opportunity to learn and grow. An opportunity that you may otherwise have missed out on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"greyscale<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

They Provide Different Perspectives<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

If the only perspectives you get to hear are those of your spouse and family members, there\u2019s a good chance they\u2019re biased or rehashed. Communicating with friends allows you an avenue for new and fresh perspectives on anything ranging from a new TV show to college tuition fees.<\/p>\n

They Provide an Avenue for Independence<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Co-dependency<\/u><\/a>\u2014a relationship trait whereby one person enables and supports the other\u2019s destructive behavior\u2014is far less healthy for both parties than a relationship based on mutual independence. Spending personal time with friends can help spouses develop that sense of independence, while remaining committed to each other.<\/p>\n

As a leading <\/i><\/em>marriage and family therapist<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0in <\/i><\/em>Palo Alto<\/i><\/em>, Azizeh has helped countless couples revive their relationships. She helps them identify underlying issues that harm their marriage so they can reconnect with each other.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

Call <\/i><\/em>(<\/u>650) 206-9973<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0to schedule a free 20-minutes consultation.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many people, the word relationship has become a byword for two people who are romantically and sexually involved with each other. This however, presents a very narrow view of the range of important connections human beings need to sustain healthy lives. Friendships, for instance, are some of the most important relationships you will make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Importance of Friendships in a Marriage - Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For many people, the word relationship has become a byword for two people who are romantically and sexually involved with each other. This however, presents a very narrow view of the range of important connections human beings need to sustain healthy lives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage - Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For many people, the word relationship has become a byword for two people who are romantically and sexually involved with each other. This however, presents a very narrow view of the range of important connections human beings need to sustain healthy lives.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-06T16:08:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1064\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-06T16:08:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/\"},\"wordCount\":412,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/\",\"name\":\"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage - Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-06T16:08:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"For many people, the word relationship has become a byword for two people who are romantically and sexually involved with each other. This however, presents a very narrow view of the range of important connections human beings need to sustain healthy lives.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png\",\"width\":1064,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/\",\"name\":\"Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy\",\"description\":\"Making Good Lives Better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ARCT-logo-color.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ARCT-logo-color.png\",\"width\":373,\"height\":63,\"caption\":\"Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage - Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling","description":"For many people, the word relationship has become a byword for two people who are romantically and sexually involved with each other. This however, presents a very narrow view of the range of important connections human beings need to sustain healthy lives.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage - Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling","og_description":"For many people, the word relationship has become a byword for two people who are romantically and sexually involved with each other. This however, presents a very narrow view of the range of important connections human beings need to sustain healthy lives.","og_url":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/","og_site_name":"Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling","article_published_time":"2020-02-06T16:08:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1064,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage","datePublished":"2020-02-06T16:08:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/"},"wordCount":412,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png","articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/","url":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/","name":"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage - Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy and Marriage Counseling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png","datePublished":"2020-02-06T16:08:32+00:00","description":"For many people, the word relationship has become a byword for two people who are romantically and sexually involved with each other. This however, presents a very narrow view of the range of important connections human beings need to sustain healthy lives.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png","width":1064,"height":750,"caption":"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/the-importance-of-friendships-in-a-marriage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Importance of Friendships in a Marriage"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/","name":"Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy","description":"Making Good Lives Better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#organization","name":"Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy","url":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ARCT-logo-color.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ARCT-logo-color.png","width":373,"height":63,"caption":"Azizeh Rezaiyan Couples Therapy"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/The-Importance-of-Friendships-in-a-Marriage.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-staginglink3.com\/aziza-client-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}