Wait, where the fuck are the cats this morning?

Yeah sometimes you must fight. Just not them, but yourself. To become better, to become what they deserve and to match what they give you.

It's a bit of both. No amount of fighting for a relationship is going to compensate for fundamental incompatibility, but no amount of compatibility will eliminate the need to work at it.

Toxic shit they teach women so they "fight" to put up with neglectful men

Even healthy relationships need work, that being said you should never stay in an unhappy one

Work != Fight

It's both. It's easy to fall into a pattern of fighting for a relationship that isn't worth the effort, of doing too much and putting up with too much. But also, great relationships don't just happen when two compatible people get together. You have to intentionally grow and change and become right for each other. You'll have fights and idiosyncrasies that you have to work through. You'll have to grow and change and compromise as well as figuring out how not to do it too much.

A happy marriage is a long term collaborative project. But the individuals have to understand when it isn't something that's on the table and learn to walk away. I'm radically pro divorce and also happily married.

I will credit their success to the cat.

Idlk I've never had to "fight" for the right love to work out. In fact, it was very easy with the right person.

"you cant just go forcing something if it's just not right"

What's your longest relationship?

People change, and you change, over the years. And over time life can throw a lot of shit your way. Love is easy when it's just dates in your free time, or if you're long distance and every visit is a little vacation. When every encounter is a special little event.

It's tougher over time. Stuff like crunch time at a job while an elderly family member's health is degrading and having to juggle both because you can't afford to tell your job to fuck off. Life stressors and busy schedules leaving no time for intimacy. Not being able to rely on your partner like you normally can because of the immense amount of shit they're juggling. Navigating past childhood trauma (even with therapy, it can still rear its ugly head).

Interests can change. Priorities can change. Things that may have seemed like cute quirks in the first year can become pet peeves over multiple.

I've been with my wife for over a decade now. We've both changed in a lot of ways, and it has taken effort to find time around everything else in life to ensure we have time for each other. Having a kid makes it that much more difficult.

We've had friction. We've had to work together to keep things working. Stuff like "I get your frustration and concern, those are completely valid. I'm going to work on that... That said, holy shit you CANNOT word it like that or bring it up to me like that unless you just want us to have a shouting match. That wording and approach signals a hell of a lot more to me than you seem to actually mean."

"Fighting" to make things work might be the wrong word, but it has at times been a lot of work. And I feel our relationship is stronger for it.

Ultimately, I'd rather have the depth of relationship where I build things with my partner and get deeply attached, than to keep things distanced enough that I could just cut and run when things got messy or difficult. That means that I've got to weather when things get rough too.

So far it's been worth it.

"Fighting" to make things work might be the wrong word, but it has at times been a lot of work

I think that's what the other commenter was kind of getting at. Fighting is something forceful and unhinged, putting in effort is the more appropriate way to put it in my eyes.

Fighting is something forceful and unhinged, putting in effort is the more appropriate way to put it in my eyes.

If cancer is taking the life of your mate are you just "putting in effort" against cancer? This a part of what can happen in a relationship. "Fighting for the relationship" doesn't necessarily mean against each other. It can mean against society, against nature even.

Yes, im not forcing my mate to fight because stress and anger makes you less healthy. Fighting is some american bs they think everything is better when you fight, it's not actual helpful usage of the word fight.

Cancer is trying to kill you. The opposite of "fighting" is "surrender". Its useful in that context for a fight against cancer. Not considering that as a threat that needs to be fought seems fatalistic. To each their own.

It's not, it's your own body's cells that "forgot" their not supposed to grow too much. They're just trying to grow. But idk a lot of humans seem to need some "enemy" to fight. You just don't have to look at the world that way. It's a very americanized way of looking at things.

It's cell banditry.

It’s not, it’s your own body’s cells that “forgot” their not supposed to grow too much. They’re just trying to grow. They’re just trying to grow. But idk a lot of humans seem to need some “enemy” to fight. You just don’t have to look at the world that way.

If that helps you to look at it that way as you watch your loved one grow weaker and wither away, more power to you. I don't know if you've had a loved one that has gone through this, but I really do believe its a fight because at the lowest point it is much easier to give up and die than endure some of the horrible pain that comes along with this kind of...for you I'll call it a "condition" instead of a fight. The person with cancer has to choose to continue to struggle against their own body trying to kill itself, and its not a choice like deciding what color shirt to wear that day. The gravity and impact of the decisions, and the endurance of the pain are much closer to a "fight" than any other word I can think of.

Again, though, if it helps you to see it as some calm or nature process that isn't a fight, continue to do that for yourself.

Some people value duration in relationships, others don't. There's not one, right way to be in a relationship, and one isn't better than the other.

I didn't make some objective judgement one way or the other. I laid out reasons why a relationship may take "fighting", work, or effort that wouldn't be as necessary in shorter term relationships. I also stated my preference for longer term ones.

That said, I think it may be a little telling that you jumped to defend your lifestyle choices when they weren't attacked.

you cant just go forcing something if it's just not right"

To quote the great philosopher Peter Griffin : "Love is like a fart, if you have to force it, it's probably shit"

Having a relationship with a merman would be a lot of work.

But should it stop us from trying?

Depends if you're top or bot

We're doing this life together, so that means we're sticking together.

It never needs to be proven that we could go away. We know, and that's why.

Nah bro.

I’m fucking tired.

Sometimes is not worth fighting for.

Sometimes it isn't, and it takes wisdom to see whether or not it's worth it.

I've been there, exhausted, stressed, done. I'm so grateful I walked away. Being single was better than that relationship by the end, but it also put me in a position to find a relationship that's been worth every struggle it's imposed on me.

Good luck

For a longterm relationship to really work, in my experience of 7 years, you must sometimes fight with the person you love as well. It is not the most important thing and in mass much more attention and sacrifice is needed than fighting. But even the other person will appreciate it, if you will fight them a bit, when you feel they temporaly abandoned the relationship or common goals. If you truly love someone, then you hope you will not need to fight them, but you are also ready to do it, for them, for the relationship. Anyway that is my two cents.

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