When You Have Something Great, Don't Look For Something Better
Sticking with someone because you have a great relationship is never settling.
Standret Natalia / Shutterstock In today's world, where we are more connected than ever and can just keep swiping to browse potential lovers on dating apps and social media, it is hard to feel sure that there isn't something better out there.
And it causes us to contemplate whether or not we are settling in a relationship.
As a result, it is super-easy to ruin a really good, healthy relationship by wasting time wondering "What if?"
It is important to know when to hit the brakes and love the one you are with.
This may seem like a conflicting message when we are so used to hearing that we should never settle and that we should always strive for the best because "we deserve it."
We tell ourselves that we are worthy of the best kind of love, but by doing so, we could be missing out on something strong that we already have.
So, ultimately, sticking with someone because you have a great relationship is never settling.
The truth is that nobody can do or be everything for you. That just wouldn't make sense, and it wouldn't be a healthy relationship, either.
There will always be someone out there who has more of any one characteristic than whoever you are with.
You are going to meet people who are more exciting or more physically fit or more creative or more successful or more adventurous or more whatever-else-it-is-that-turns-you-on than your partner.
But what is crucial to remember is that relationships are built on the sum of two people's parts.
Nobody has ever maintained a completely fulfilling relationship off a sexy smile or a love of culinary arts.
If you are with someone whose "whole package" you love and are compatible with, you can't let yourself get distracted by someone else's "highlights reel."
Because, let's face it, the highlights reel is all you really see in someone up front.
Loving someone's "whole package" does not mean you adore or fawn over every single thing about him or her, by the way — it just means that their merits far outweigh their weaknesses.
In a great relationship, you both recognize each others' shortcomings (because you have them, too!), but your interactions are mostly joyful, fun, healthy, and loving.
If you have already found that with someone, you are beating the odds!
Do not go throwing it all away on the silly idea that there's someone more equipped to give you exactly the same amount of happiness.
Liz Pardue-Schultz is a writer whose work has appeared in Huffington Post, Time Magazine, XOJane, Medium, SheSaid, HelloGiggles, Ravishly, and Thought Catalog.