This has been a mistake I’ve definitely made, and which my ex made. This misguided, cut-throat, perfect-or-else mentality may put people at risk to throw away perfectly wonderful relationships.
You *must* develop a tolerance for a certain level of imperfection, challenges, problems, disagreement, and less-than-ideal situations when you date. Because every healthy, normal, long-lasting relationship is full of them. There is no such thing as a long-term anything that doesn’t include imperfect situations, compromising, or problems. You just shouldn’t be *harming* each other. That’s the difference. No one ever said relationships were easy to be in. They should ideally be more good than bad, and they should not involve undue harm. But yes. Yes, they’ll involve a lot of imperfection and problems the two of you have to learn to figure out. From girlfriend to the end. So it’s best to go into it understanding that’s how it works.