Settling for More than “The One”
Exploring different types of relationships
When people are looking for relationships in movies or books, they are often searching for “The One”. The story will start with a single person feeling sad that they are alone. Then they’ll meet a person who completely changes their life. The relationship is kindled and it’ll end with a “happily ever after”.
But life doesn’t usually work that way. Some people are happy being single and find fulfillment in other things in their life or from casual or platonic relationships. Sometimes “forever” isn’t as long as expected and the relationship changes or comes to an end. Some people want more than just “The One”.
Finding “The One” is similar to the idea of soul-mates: that there is one person that will complete you. This is arguably problematic for monogamous people but, when dating multiple people, this concept is moot. Unless there are multiple versions of ‘you’, it’s not possible for each of your partners to complete you and, while people may act differently or enjoy different things with different people, it’s not fundamentally changing their sense of self.
