What to do when your S/O does something that you’re not a fan of.
Please stay with me until the end.
This is mostly for my fellow young guys out there, but given how many immature people I’ve seen who should know better, this rant/sermon can apply to most everyone.
There are things that the people we love do that we just don’t get. Whatever it may be, they’re there. And sometimes it’s frustrating to see them engage in activities that you don’t like and that may even make you uncomfortable. I know this. So what do you do in those moments where the person you love wants to do something that you don’t necessarily like?
The first thing is: Communicate. If you don’t tell the person you love how you feel about something as clearly as possible, then how can you expect them to understand? That should always be step one. For example, I don’t like dancing at clubs or at parties with loud music. I hate it. For many reasons. One of which being that I have no rhythm. The other is that I’m paranoid enough that I’m uncomfortable being in situations where I don’t know what is happening around me and when there is loud music, low visibility, and you are bunched up with a lot of people, it’s hard to tell what’s going on around you. My girlfriend, however, loves to dance. So, what did I do when we were going to a party and there was going to be dancing? I told her that I don’t like dancing and why. That was step one.
The second part is where some of us fall short. It’s the part where the person you love still wants to do something you don’t like, even when you have communicated your feelings to them. There are a few ways this can come about and how you go forward should be determined by this. One way is that they don’t sympathize with your feelings at all and ignore them. This is a pretty bad situation to be in and it means that there is a bigger problem in y’all’s relationship. Another way is that they understand your feelings, but believe that doing this activity will not affect y’all’s relationship and so they still desire to engage in it. This is when you need to step back and do some evaluating yourself. You need to ask yourself: Will this affect our relationship? Nine times out of ten, if it’s something innocuous like dancing or going out with friends, it won’t. The key here is to not be insecure and think that one little thing is going to wreck your relationship. Trust me, there are a lot of little things about you that don’t line up with your S/O’s desires; but if they love you, then those little things are not at all enough to end things between the two of you. For example, I am not the most in-shape person. I’m not obese, but I’m not built like a brick house either (though I am trying to be that). Does my girlfriend really care? No. She doesn’t, because there are aspects about me she likes that outweigh the ones she may not.
The final part is what do you do when your S/O wants to do the innocuous thing you don’t like? Do you do what a lot of young, inexperienced and/or insecure people do and say “No. You’re not doing that thing?” Absolutely not. Who do you think you are to say what a person should and shouldn’t be allowed to do if they’re not hurting anyone? Your life is yours and only yours and their life is theirs and only theirs. If they love you, then they will choose you at the end of the day. I’m not saying that if your S/O cheats on you that you should forgive them and take them back. Or that you shouldn’t care if they spend an ungodly amount of money on something that prevents you from paying your rents. Those are not little, innocuous things that don’t affect someone’s life and their relationship. What I’m saying is that if you expect your S/O to be a part of your life, then you need to understand that you are two separate beings with your own lives that are choosing to be together. Being a partner is exactly that, being a partner. That means you do things as a team, but that doesn’t mean you do all the same things. The most effective teams are the ones who utilize each others’ individual strengths to excel. Ever play D&D? You don’t have your paladin play support just because the cleric does.
So, what did I do when my girlfriend told me that she understood how I felt about dancing, why I didn’t like it, why I wasn’t a huge fan of her going out to dance, but still wanted to go? I realized that dancing made her happy, that I could trust her to not cross any lines we had already established together, and I told her to get out there and shake what her momma gave her while I would be off to the side with a bottle of water for her and looking out like a hawk in case any creeps decided they wanted to put their hands on her. And guess what she did? She told me that she loved me, kissed me a dozen times, danced for about three hours, and then came back and wrapped her arms around me as tight as a python. And when we went back to the hotel room later that night, we had some of the best sex of our lives.
Want to drive away the person you supposedly love? Tell them that they can’t do something they enjoy even though it doesn’t affect the relationship. If it’s a deal breaker that you have established and both agree on then you are well within your rights to break things off if they cross that line. But honestly, how many deal breakers can you possibly have before you have to look inward and start asking if you are the problem?
Want to build a lasting partnership with the person you love? Let them be the person you fell in love with and you be the person they fell in love with.