There is a peculiar tragedy that unfolds so quietly most people never notice it.
You stop dating yourself.
Not all at once. There is no ceremony. No dramatic ending. Just a slow drift into familiarity. And familiarity, when left unattended, has a way of becoming neglect.
Think back to when you were a child.
You could spend an afternoon sitting beneath a tree, watching ants march through the grass as though they carried the secrets of the universe. You wandered into the woods with no destination. You climbed rocks. You skipped stones across rivers. You didn't need entertainment because you were fascinated by simply being alive.
You were taking yourself on dates.
Then you grew older.
Your dates became coffee shops, bookstores, museums, long drives with the windows down. You'd imagine your future. Dream about the person you would become. You'd ask yourself impossible questions.
"What if I built something extraordinary?"
"What if I traveled the world?"
"What if life could be an adventure?"
You enjoyed your own company.
Then somewhere along the way...
You stopped showing up.
You still lived with yourself every day, but the romance quietly disappeared.
Imagine treating your spouse the way many people treat themselves.
Never asking how their day was.
Never planning anything special.
Speaking to them only to criticize.
Pointing out every flaw.
Reminding them of every mistake.
Eventually the relationship would become cold. Not because love vanished, but because attention did.
And isn't that exactly what happens within ourselves?
The voice that once imagined castles now whispers limitations.
The person who once believed anything was possible begins introducing themselves with apologies.
The greatest bully many people will ever meet lives between their own ears.
But relationships can be rekindled.
Including the one with yourself.
Take yourself somewhere beautiful with no agenda.
Sit beside a river.
Walk through a forest.
Read a book beneath a tree.
Dress nicely, not because anyone will see you, but because you deserve to be treated well.
Take yourself to dinner.
Leave your phone behind.
Ask yourself the same questions you once did.
"What do you dream about now?"
"What makes you curious?"
"What would delight you?"
Listen as though you were meeting someone fascinating for the first time.
Because you are.
Something curious happens when you begin dating yourself again.
You become interesting.
Not because you've collected more accomplishments, but because you've become alive once more.
People are naturally drawn toward those who are already enjoying life.
A person desperately searching for company often carries the invisible weight of needing something.
A person who genuinely enjoys their own company offers something.
There is room for others because there is already joy within.
Think of your life as a dinner party.
If you've never learned to enjoy sitting at your own table, every guest arrives carrying the impossible burden of making the evening worthwhile.
But if you've already lit the candles...
Cooked a wonderful meal...
Put on beautiful music...
Then every person who joins you is simply invited into something that already exists.
The same is true for friendship.
The same is true for marriage.
The healthiest marriages are often formed by two people who already have healthy marriages with themselves.
Not because they don't need one another.
But because they are not asking the other person to become the missing half of their soul.
They come together as two whole people, each capable of enjoying solitude, each capable of wonder, each still taking themselves on
Perhaps that is the real secret.
Before searching for someone to spend your life with...
Become someone you genuinely enjoy spending a Saturday afternoon with.
Take yourself to the places where your imagination wakes up.
Speak to yourself as you would someone deeply loved.
Dream with yourself again.
Because the longest relationship you will ever have is not with your spouse.
It is with the person who has been beside you since your very first breath.
Maybe it's time to ask them out again.

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