The relationship becomes steadier when progress is recognized as honestly as setbacks are.

Problems get named precisely and improvements get named vaguely, if at all. Someone changes something difficult, and it goes unmentioned because the absence of a complaint is treated as the natural state, while the next lapse is described in detail. That asymmetry makes effort feel pointless and turns every conversation about the relationship into a conversation about what is wrong with it.

Say the good thing with the same precision you would use for a grievance. Naming exactly what somebody did differently, and what it made possible, tells them the effort registered and is worth continuing.