Maintenance is the act of human beings aimed at keeping their relationships intact, in their current state, and satisfactory. Keeping a relationship intact, maintaining its appearance and preventing it from dissolving is important because who wants to lose the people they like and care about? You have to work on relationships to keep them going and stay strong. This applies to any type of relationship, even business relationships. As it stands, keeping him from moving too far into more or less intimacy can be the hardest part of maintenance. This is because, depending on the situation, you don't want to give too much to someone you want to remain friends with, but you also don't want to not open up to someone you can have a real relationship with. This is a decision that both people must make through nonverbal communication and let the other know how comfortable they feel with each other. To feel satisfied in a relationship you must maintain a favorable balance between rewards and penalties. In other words, you have to do what's good for yourself as much as you have to do for the relationship. For me maintenance is the hardest step in any of my relationships. Trying to maintain a balance to meet my needs and those of my friends and family is much more difficult than it initially was.