"Tell me who am I without you
By my side?"
-George Harrison
Though the definition of independence varies, I've found difficulties in understanding where it plays a role in romantic relationships. I wont go into details, but there is usually some battle in all relationships, usually at the beginning, where couples start to test their limits of independence.
Through my experience, and watching those of others, I've seen that there is a certain stereotype (mostly women fall into this category) of people that "relationship hop." They go from one serious relationship to the next, and end up in a tornado cloud of codependency. They start to see themselves as incomplete without relationships, because this is all they know. They are at the very bottom of the "independence" chain. In fact, their lower than that. They're the bottom feeders off the bottom line of the independence chain.
Being a former relationship hopper, I can say that this stereotype isn't entirely inacurate. But what i will say is this: bottom feeders can make their way to the top.
There is a level of independence that you can achieve in relationships. In fact, most healthy relationships support the individual needs of one another and understand the importance of keeping an amount of independence while still wanting the help and use of each other.
So to those of you who have heard before, "you need people too much," or "you're incomplete without a bf/gf" or your a "relationship-aholic," this is what I would say to them...
"If I was meant to be alone, God wouldn't have made me to be so frikin cool."
