As National Boyfriend Day is drawing to a close, us at Stitcht are here to help dish out the appreciation for all the wonderful, supportive, amazing boyfriends there are out there. So, to all of our fellow gals who have a man in their life (I refuse to say other half- you are more than a half, always), It’s time to appreciate what our boyfriends bring to us, what they gift us, and how they help support us. Have a think on this fine occasion, maybe even write it down, about how your partner helps make you the very best version of yourself.
To guide you through this very special day, us at Stitcht decided to put our noggins together and give you a fine-tuned list of what makes a good relationship, for you to dish out to your friends, or to use for yourself, someday (no pressure, of course, you’re wonderful as you are).
First up on the list comes trust. We have found that the more established, long-term relationships seem to depend highly on it. For example, if your boyfriend goes out for an evening, and you are spending the whole time stalking them on snap-maps, biting your nails waiting for them to get home, or hoping they didn’t bump into their blonde-haired ex, we’re sorry to say it, but the relationship won’t be lasting until you are both silver foxes walking about with zimmer-frames.
Although, yes, trust does come from within, your boyfriend should not make it hard for you to trust them. It should be easy. If it’s not, ask yourself why this is. Trust us, when it’s right, you won’t even think twice about them going on a night out.
Number two on the list lies compromise. Yes, in small terms, we do direct this towards the infamous dilemma that comes with the question: “where shall we eat?”. But, in larger terms, we direct this to the relationship as a whole. We suppose that, in this, comes listening, and not just skimming over things.
Knowing yourself is, of course, a biggie both during and before getting into a relationship. If you know the traits that may be hard or difficult for a partner to fit into or around, then how much better will the relationship be if you can give them a heads up and navigate it together? If you know you need space, and commitment scares you, then you can work it out together, can’t you? Go on a journey, see what you find, and share it either with yourself or, if you have one, with your boyfriend, too.
We’ve also noticed that, when we look back to old high-school flames, teenage relationships should never really be allowed to exist in the category of ‘relationships’, should they? At this age, we all hated ourselves. We were working out why, one minute, we hate the boy in science class, and the next, we think we love them (all when we’ve never had a conversation with them). And, all of this happens in the midst of trying to understand why our hips are getting bigger, and why we have a plethora of chin-spots inundating our faces.
We think that, over time, you have been taught to learn self-love through the validation boyfriends can give. But this just isn’t how it should be. Reading this, no matter how old you are, I hope you do learn to love yourself for everything that you are- because, if you can’t love yourself, how can you expect someone else to love you?
From the singletons here at Stitcht, though, we had a laugh about the thought of compiling this list. If you can’t laugh about it, then what can you laugh about, hey? What we did learn through this process, though, is something I want to remind you all, too: with or without a boyfriend, you are worthy, you are beautiful, and you are one goddamn special human! We wish you luck, today and always, in a relationship or out of one, and hope that this little message helped you to #getreel with yourself.