#date successfully

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. 

The sooner you realize that each person is bringing baggage and problems to the relationship, the sooner you can root yourself in reality: relationships require effort and work to tackle problems, tolerate problems, and have tolerance for each other’s imperfections and shortcomings.  But I now caution everyone to maintain focus on what matters: the fact that you have someone living life alongside you, willing to continue digging you, and digging with you, until you are deeper and deeper in love.