10 Emotional Needs Of A Woman/Man In A Relationship

Every human on the face of the earth has emotional needs. This is natural. When these needs are not met, you tend to have a feeling of unfulfillment, thereby longing for the fulfillment of such emotional needs.

When these emotional needs are met, you have a sense of fulfillment which naturally draws you closer to the one who is committed to meeting your needs. These develop a strong form of emotional feeling and intimate attraction to want to be with this person all the time, which sparks up a romance.

Why are these emotional needs so important? You might want to ask. They are important because as humans we all yearn to be appreciated and loved always. Yes, our emotional needs are different and specific to individuals, but the goal is the same. We all want to feel happy and loved.

Meeting your emotional needs is the key to true and genuine happiness and fulfillment. But how do you even identify what your emotional needs are? Good question! I will be answering that shortly.

Identifying your emotional needs is not as tasking or as much of a big deal as many people think it is. The first step is to ask yourself some important questions. What are the things that make me feel safe? What gives me a sense of purpose? What provides me with a sense of autonomy and identity? What gives me joy and keeps me at peace?

Having understood how to identify your emotional needs, I move over to listing out 10 emotional needs of a woman/man.

As I mentioned earlier, emotional needs are distinct to individuals. But just in case you are still having difficulties pinpointing what your emotional needs might be, I have made out time to carefully list out the 10 emotional needs of a woman/man.

This is just me generalizing, some might apply to you, and others might not. But in order to see your emotional needs met, you must identify and know what they are before carefully communicating them with your partner on how to fulfill or meet your needs.

10 Emotional Needs Of Women And Men Generally

• Affection:

The first in my list of the 10 emotional needs of a woman/man is affection.

I mean everyone loves affection both male and female. You want to be cared for and loved. For women, affection means, security, protection, comfort, and approval. When you express affection for your woman, it means you truly care for her.

For men, affection ranges from the physical show of emotions like touch, hugs, and kisses to words of affirmation and encouragement.

• Sexual Fulfillment:
This is an emotional need for both men and women. For some people, this is an essential part of their emotional needs and when they don’t get fulfillment in this area it could cause a drag.

• Intimate Conversations:

This is personal and it reveals feelings, concerns, and cares. This could be an emotional need for both men and women.

Some people just desire to share their achievements, problems, dreams, fears, and goals with an intimate partner. It could even be as trivial as sharing their daily activity with someone. They just crave that sense of connection with a partner.

• Recreational Companionship:

Everyone, no matter their gender, desires companionship. Recreational companionship is simply doing activities you enjoy with your partner.

Rather than engaging in these activities solo, you are participating in an activity you both enjoy together and enjoying the laughter and happiness that comes from it.

• Honesty And Openness:

This emotional need gives a sense of security. It is the ability to be open and vulnerable to your partner in an honest way.

While is it the norm for most women to be open and vulnerable, most men seem to want to hold back because they don’t want any form of judgment. Women enjoy it when their men are vulnerable to them.

• Physical Attraction:

I mean who wants an ugly partner? Yeah, nobody!

Both men and women desire an attractive partner.

Like they say, “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. So, whoever meets this standard of beauty and attraction is automatically a win!

• Financial Support:

In today’s world, both men and women desire to be financially supported. The times are hard and the economy is biting hard. Your emotional need might be the desire to be with someone who gives you that sense of financial security.

• Domestic Support:

It is absolutely fine to want someone who meets your emotional needs by supporting you domestically. Gone are the days when domestic responsibility was saddled to women alone. The burden was much and totally exhausting.

So having a partner who supports you domestically and not just coming back expecting dinner to be served and the house clean after a long day could mean a lot to you. How best, you both spend time chatting and talking about your day.

• Admiration:

Common, we all have that need to be admired. Men need admiration just as much as women.

From words like, ‘great job’ to ‘you look great’. Making a conscious effort to admire someone is a great plus to meeting their emotional needs.

• Trust:

Trust usually goes hand in hand with security. It makes you emotionally and physically safe. Everyone wants to understand that the person they are emotionally attached to is looking out for them.

Trust is usually not a one-time thing but it is cultivated over the years. Both men and women desire to have that sense of trust and security.

Having examined the 10 emotional needs of women and men, let’s dive into something deeper and exciting.

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10 Emotional Needs Of A Woman In A Relationship

I know every man out there is looking to satisfy their woman’s emotional needs but don’t know how to. I have heard men say things like, “women are too complicated”, “you can never satisfy a woman” and so on.

Well, I am here to show you how you can satisfy your lady’s emotional needs.

It starts by identifying what exactly are a woman’s emotional needs in a relationship. If you can answer this question, then you are good to go. But if you cannot truly answer this question, that is why I am here to show you the 10 emotional needs of a woman in a relationship.

• Care:

The first item on the list is care. Every woman wants to know that her partner is concerned about her general well-being. You are interested in everything that concerns her and her feelings.

How do I care for a woman you might want to ask? This ranges from the most trivial things like spending quality time, checking up on her, showing that she’s important and you value her, and listening to her among others.

• Understanding:

Every woman wants a man who not only listens but will truly understand her. A woman wants to know that you understand her point of view and not judge her.

Giving her undivided attention and showing that you understand where she’s coming from and empathizing with her means so much to every woman.

• Respect:

This is not just an emotional need for men. Every woman wants to be respected in a relationship. Showing that you prioritize the needs and feelings of your woman shows you respect her. No woman wants to be shamed, talked down, or disrespected in any way.

• Cherished:

Women need to feel that they are being supported by their partners at all times. She wants to be your number one priority. If she feels she is occupying the second place in your life, then you do not value her enough.

• Validation:

This means as a partner, you have to make conscious efforts to contribute to her happiness. You put enough effort into acknowledging, not necessarily all her emotions and feelings, but the genuine ones.

• Reassurance:

From emotional reassurance to verbal reassurance you have to be committed to all of them. This helps her feel safe and secure in the relationship and does not make her overthink.

• Good Communication:

A woman desires to be able to communicate anything and everything with her partner. She wants to be able to talk to you and not be scared you will shut her up or say she talks too much.

She wants you to listen and have good communication with her without you controlling or dominating the conversation. She wants to feel free to ask you anything and share everything with her partner.

• Physical Contact:

Bingo! This is not for the men alone. Ladies crave non-sexual body contact from their partners. From holding her hands in public, forehead kisses, and sweet kisses on the lips, to giving her a genuine hug.

Connecting with her through physical romance speaks volumes to any woman.

• Love Gestures:

A woman wants her partner to express their love through a variety of love gestures. This ranges from surprising her randomly with a flower, buying her gifts, booking a weekend getaway, going on dinner dates, etc.

Simply put, she wants that expression of love that shows you carry her in your consciousness at all times.

• Admiration:

Every woman wants to feel beautiful and admired. She definitely wants you to tell her how much you love her as many times as possible. She wants you to complement her new dress, new shoes, or her new hairstyle.

The key is being observant enough to throw in these compliments at the right time. A woman definitely wants to feel she’s still attractive enough to be admired by her partner.

These are ways to emotionally satisfy your woman. Having done justice to that, how about we go to how a woman can emotionally identify and satisfy the needs of a man?

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Men’s Emotional Needs In A Relationship

Trust me, men have emotional needs too. I mean they are humans. Behind all that ‘hard’ guy, there is an emotional part of them that has needs that have to be met.

Men usually have a hard time opening up about their emotional needs for whatever reason, so don’t expect them to always feel so comfortable sitting you down to talk about their emotional needs, No!

Some men might feel comfortable about it, but trust me, that’s rare. Probably it’s because of the standard society places on them and everyone expects them to hold it together at all times.

In this session, I will be taking you through men’s emotional needs in a relationship. This is going to be exciting! I’m sure it will spark up some old dying flame in that relationship. Because, as I mentioned earlier, understanding each other’s emotional needs and how to meet them is very important for every relationship to thrive.

• Respect:

Definitely, the first on the list. Respect doesn’t necessarily mean worshipping the man, or a master-slave relationship. Respect in this case means, acknowledgment and appreciation.

Men love to be respected this way, it simply boosts their ego and self-esteem.

It makes them feel wanted and valued. I mean who wouldn’t want that?

• Be Proud Of Him:

A man needs to know at all times that his woman is proud of him. This makes them feel on top of the world every single time.

Every hard-working man desires the support of their partner. They want to know that they are doing a great job, you love and support them and most importantly, you are proud of them. They are willing to go over and beyond to do much more.

• Physical Desire:

Every man desire to feel wanted. They want to know that you are attracted to them and you desire them. Once they feel unwanted or that you don’t want to be around them, this can affect their self-esteem and bring about insecurities.

• Regular Intimacy:

Yea, I know you’ve been waiting for this part. Men are generally sexual beings. They show their emotions through physical intimacy.

• Acceptance:

Accepting your partner for who they are is essential. I know oftentimes in relationships there is always the tendency to change your partner in one way or another. It is a human thing and not gender-specific.

Men love to be accepted totally for who they are. Oftentimes, when you try to change them, they resist. No, not because they are stubborn, but because they desire to be accepted. In the long run, they change when they feel they are ready not because of your pressures.

• Security:

Men also desire to feel secure in a relationship. Yes!

Just like a woman desires to feel secure in her relationship, so do men. A man wants to be able to count on you for emotional and physical support.

He wants to know you trust and love him. He wants to feel your loyalty and knows he is the only one for you. He desires to know he can always count on you no matter what and you won’t betray him, come what may.

I know this is kind of feminine, but this makes them feel at ease and loosen up faster in the relationship. They feel free to seek your opinion about things and ask for your advice.

• Space:

Yes, you read that right.

Baby girl, allow your man to do other activities or hang out with his buddies. This does not affect your relationship in a negative way; rather it makes your relationship healthy.

Men love space! This cannot be overemphasized.

They want to go to watch games with their friends, hang out with them, and play soccer or basketball. You both don’t have to be with each other every single time. Having a life outside of your relationship doesn’t in any way means the man is out there cheating. No one is stopping you from getting a girls’ night out also.

Now that we have identified the emotional needs of a man, what are the physical needs in a relationship?

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Physical Needs In A Relationship

In every relationship, one must not only work towards the emotional needs of their partners alone but also their physical needs as well.

Everyone yearns for a physical connection with their partner. This is why they want to be around them as much as possible. From hand holding to gentle hugs, everyone wants to have that chemistry with their partner.

For some, their love language primarily is physical touch. For others, though it might not be a primary love language it is essential in making your partner feel wanted, loved, and admired.

Which leads us to the question, what exactly are my partner’s physical needs in a relationship?

Not all physical needs are sexual, but apart from general hugs, kisses, and hand holding, some needs are more specific depending on your partner.

The only way to find out these specific needs is by communicating with them to truly find out what their needs are and how you can meet these needs. You can also know their needs by being observant of how they respond or what they crave.

Some physical needs might also include quality time together, sharing gifts, and assisting them with chores when the need arises. As pointed out above, you can only understand these needs through effective communication.

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Effects Of Lack Of Physical Touch In A Relationship

Physical touch in a relationship is very important. Why? Because this is one of the ways you show your partner that you desire them. Just like I stated earlier, for some people, physical touch is their love language and the absence of this could mean deprivation.

Physical touch, both sexual and non-sexual plays an important role in your relationship. The lack of it might cause a void within the relationship. Over time, the said partner might feel a sense of abandonment which might lead to mental separation and then break up in the long run.

Everyone wants to feel loved and desired by their partner regardless of gender. Apart from showing your partner that you desire and love them emotionally, it is equally important you prove this through physical gestures.

Whenever your partner feels that their act of physical intimacy is not being reciprocated, they might feel neglected which might begin to cause a rift in the relationship.

Since physical touch helps make partners closer in a relationship, a major effect of lack of physical touch in a relationship is distance. The neglected partner feels that maybe the other partner is no longer physically attracted to them or doesn’t care about them any longer, which breeds separation or distance.

From distance, then comes the frequent conflict and rift. All these are some of the major effects of lack of physical touch in a relationship. The best thing to do when you notice anything is to talk things out.

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How Important Is Physical Intimacy In A Relationship

The importance of physical intimacy cannot be over-emphasized. Why? Because physical intimacy happens to be the cord that binds two people in a relationship together and makes them closer to each other.

Having gone through the effects of a lack of physical touch in a relationship, we see that physical intimacy is an essential part of every relationship. I mean, that is why you must be attracted to your partner physically before getting into a relationship.

Yes, you must check all other forces of attraction, but the physical attraction, in a way, is the cord that will sustain the union. You might want to ask, how important is physical intimacy in a relationship?

Physical intimacy is a vital part of every relationship because it helps to sustain the relationship. Not only is it an expression of love and affection but also care. It helps to build trust within your relationship, by making you naturally rely on your partner.

This makes you feel like you actually matter in the relationship. You naturally feel special and important to your partner.

When you are within your partner’s arms, you feel secure and all doubts seem to have been erased. No matter the insecurity you might have felt before this moment, they all disappear because at this moment you feel safe and secure.

Physical intimacy naturally stirs up sexual hormones, so in order to be able to satisfy your partner’s sexual needs, physical intimacy must come in.

And finally, physical intimacy is important for your health, because the joy and happiness you feel at that moment and the happy hormones being secreted in your body, make you healthy.

All these go to prove the importance of physical intimacy in a relationship. This means you must be physically attracted to your partner so you can satisfy their physical needs.

Types Of Physical Touch In Relationships

There are different types of physical touch in relationships and all of these work towards helping you achieve the desired satisfaction in your relationship with your partner.

As I have already pointed out above, not only does physical touch helps couples feel loved and but it also reinforces their feeling of intimacy in their relationship.

In order of preferences, men and women may slightly differ in the type of physical touch they prefer from their partner, but all I tailored towards the same goal. The fact that body language tells you a lot about a person’s intention shows how important it is in relationships.

There are seven major types of physical touch in any relationship. They are backrubs, stroking, massages, caressing, cuddling, hand holding, holding in general, hugging, and all types of kissing.

All of these types of touch are an indication of deep affection towards your partner. Showing them how much you love them, how much they mean to you, and that you care about them a lot.

I know what you are thinking, relationship sure looks like a lot of work right? I mean, having to take care of and satisfy someone’s emotional and physical needs sure looks like loads and loads of work.

But trust me, once you genuinely care about your partner and take time out to effectively communicate with them to find out about their needs in the relationship, everything will surely go smoothly and you two will be happy.

Nothing is more important in any relationship as communication. This will indeed open up so many things you need to know or find out about your partners; like their emotional needs or their physical needs.

Then you can know where you are lacking and make necessary adjustments in your relationship in order to avoid rifts and conflicts.

Just as I have stated above, both men and women have both emotional and physical needs. It is not exclusive to one partner alone while the other is feeling neglected and unsatisfied.

I have effectively listed out the 10 emotional needs of a man/woman, and I am sure this will assist you in fully understanding your partner the way you should and be able to meet their respective needs. Cheers!

You would have seen the 10 emotional needs of a woman and a man in a relationship, types of physical touch in relationships, and the importance of meeting the physical needs of your partner.

Now, this shouldn’t stop at just knowing, go the extra mile to practice this and give your partner a feeling of fulfillment in your relationship.