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Challenge in Dating — We Expect the Other Person to Show Up Perfectly from the Beginning
When you meet someone and begin dating, said person is not going to be everything you want from the very onset. He/she/them are figuring out themselves, just like you.
I can officially say that I have a boyfriend. Yay me! But it has taken patience, understanding, compassion, and empathy to just get to this point. Not long ago, I had the expectation that I needed to meet someone that was already everything I needed. But as time passes and I learn lessons as I navigate this new relationship, I’ve realized that we do ourselves a huge disfavor by expecting a person we are interested in to be everything we want from the very moment we meet.
This goes back to the whole ‘Prince Charming’ thing. From a very young age and throughout the formative years, women are taught that a man is worth while if he is everything that she needs right from the beginning. This is so not true! And it’s making women give up on relationships with good men too quickly.
I had this expectation for as long as I can remember until a few years ago when I started to see my counselor. I had to go through a learning curve to understand that every man I come across is…