Everyone always tells you that, as a couple, you’ll have to “grow together” — overcome shared challenges, find new and exciting adventures to go on, and evolve as individuals to make room for one another. All of those things are true.
What no one tells you, however, is that, over time, you’ll also naturally, almost effortlessly “grow together” as in “become more aligned” on issues and habits that, when you first met, might have been sources of friction. From clothing to food choices to sleeping habits, you’ll be shocked to see how easy certain patterns can feel given how strenuous they seemed to be at first.
When I first met my girlfriend, I didn’t eat too much Asian food. Not because I didn’t like it, but because it just wasn’t my default choice. Now I eat it several times a week without a second thought. Similarly, my girlfriend now munches on bread and potatoes a lot more frequently than she used to.
When your partner values something more than you do, you’ll soon value it more too because they do, and, in the long run, this is how love makes all the difference — by making differences disappear.
One day you’ll be two separate particles floating through an indifferent universe, the next you’ll be an inseparable unit, joined at the hip. It’s important to grow together, and there’ll be plenty of steps you can take by providing a leg-up for each other. When it comes to spending the rest of your life with someone, however, little beats “growing together” — because for every adventurous vacation, you’ll have to agree on a hundred dinners, and there’s nothing quite like knowing what your partner thinks before they say it.