Why Relationships Matter

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Family experiences can shape commitment fears without determining a relationship’s future.

Immediate attraction cannot establish how partners will handle differences over time.

Hiding important needs to avoid conflict can limit opportunities for understanding and closeness.

My husband and I have been married almost 25 years. He maintains that it was love at first sight; I maintain that he is mistaken. Regardless of who is correct, as a family scientist, I recognize that beliefs like love at first sight can contribute to myths about romantic love that can negatively impact relationships. Hallmark movies, like other romance movies, tend to be based on these myths, including the belief in soulmates or that love can conquer all. In real life, the more one believes in these myths, the less likely they are to be in satisfying relationships. Some may even end their relationships before they experience conflict out of the belief that, if they were truly meant to be, there should be no conflict.

In Hallmark’s Forgotten Holiday, we see a couple who subscribes to myths about romantic love and watch as they decide whether they want to move past those myths to find authentic love or go their separate ways.

Love at Second Sight?

Hallmark’s Forgotten Holiday introduces us to Rob Ashford and Kathryn Liu. For Rob, it’s love at first sight. Rob proposes at the start of the holiday season since that is his........

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