You learn that you want more than the bare minimum, too. You are no longer impressed by general decency. You consider traits like kindness, respect, and communication as the baseline. Instead, you now seek partners who bring something additional to the table and make your life better than it would be if you stayed single. In other words, you have standards.
Speaking of standards…
When you finally stop settling for the bare minimum, you recognize when someone isn’t living up to your standards immediately and are able to walk away from them without guilt. You now understand that having needs doesn’t make you needy and that having standards doesn’t make you high-maintenance. These things simply mean you respect yourself enough to not settle for less than you deserve.
You learn how important it is to have your effort matched in a relationship. You are now discovering that a relationship is not something one person can sustain on their own. It takes both parties for a partnership to truly flourish and persevere. You’re no longer interested in doing that work solo because you now know it’s totally unsustainable.
And last but not least, when you stop settling for the bare minimum, you open up your heart and life to find the real thing. And when you meet someone who truly exemplifies what you need and deserve, you’ll be grateful you settled for less-than at one point because you’ll appreciate and nurture that healthy love so much more.
