We Don’t Have to Lose Ourselves to Find Each Other
The older I get, the less I believe that a successful relationship is about finding someone who is exactly like you. I’ve witnessed this in friends who are happily married—people who came from different worlds, with different personalities, cultures, beliefs, dreams, and ways of seeing life. Their marriages taught me that compatibility isn't always about being alike. Sometimes, it is about having enough shared values, respect, and emotional maturity to embrace the differences. And somehow, they made it work. Not because the differences disappeared. But because they learned how to make room for them. I think this is the part we don't talk about enough. When two people are very different, the first instinct can be to ask: “Who will have to sacrifice more?” Who moves? Whose traditions do we follow? Whose family do we prioritize? Whose beliefs shape the home? Whose career takes precedence? Who gives something up? But maybe that's the wrong question. Maybe the better question ...