Mutual interests are defined as things you enjoy doing with someone else.  Depending on where you are in life, these can change, and in a relationship they are always changing.  You come together because of a mutual interest in each other.  As you get to know the other person, these interests will change and grow with a relationship.  In every relationship, there must be things or events that you do together.  If there are children in the relationship, some of these interests should of course involve them. 

A mutual interest can be enjoying the same kind of movies, going to a particular restaurant or bar, or just sitting on the couch at home watching television.  There should always be a balance of activities that you do with your children, if you have them, and those you do without them.  For a relationship to grow, you must have interests that you do just as a couple.  This is not to say that friends or family cannot be a part of these mutual interests, but sooner or later, every relationship ultimately ends up with just two people.  If you build a relationship around others like family, friends or children, when the time comes where it is just the two of you, there must remain some mutual interests.  Often, couples create their relationships around family and friends, and when those family or friends are gone, there is nothing left.  You must build your family and friends around YOUR relationship.

Although mutual interests is the last element of the family pie, it is just as important as the preceding 7 elements.  This is the element that is commonly forgotten, or the one that is given the least amount of attention.  This could not be a bigger misstep.  Having things in common is what brings two people together in the first place, and over time this is lost if not attended to.  Make time in your relationship to do things together.  Even if it is for an hour each day, talking over lunch or sharing the day’s events at bedtime, it is the one element that will help your sanity in this ever-changing, fast-paced world in which we live.