Love What Matters

Oftentimes, I wonder how essential it is to be compatible with your partner, what compatibility really means and how it applies to a relationship.

Yes,  it's both cute and admirable when you both share the same interests like having to play a sport together, or taking a load of photos of anything because you share the same passion for photography, being each others' Instagram boyfriend/girlfriend, or having an exchange of playlists because you share the same taste in music. Maybe going around looking for art pieces and materials because the arts may have brought you two together. Or just lay down the sand, under the heat of sun or the moonlight, sharing your love for the sea and talk for hours because your minds are like pits of weird ideas that never run out.

In this day and age, social media plays a vital role on how we want our relationships to be perceived by hmmm… our chosen audience. We share photos or activities with our significant others (even those which are meant to be kept private), seeking for validation, or just for the heck of it. Because we're happy and the hell we care about what others think. But most often than not, we want people to know that we're doing great together,  enjoying each other's company, or keeping up with the #relationshipgoals trend.

Being a spectator as well, seeing all those things posted everywhere on social media, it makes me evaluate the kind of relationship I currently have. Sometimes it gets me to think if  there's something that has been missing, if I needed someone who share the same wavelength as I do, one who's compatible with me and the other way around.

But when I really, really, truly think and ask myself about it, does it really matter?

I may not be in a relationship longer than most people have, but I've seen and felt how the littlest of things matter. Like how "the other" does things like playing the sound of the rain on Spotify when you're trying to take a short nap, touches the small of your back when you're feeling a little uncomfortable when you're around people you don't know as if saying "hold on, I got your back,"  well, a little more literal than metaphorical. He knows when to speak and  not to when I'm still frustrated as hell over meaningless things. How he makes an effort to always ask for apology even when he thinks he's not at fault (but I believe he is) and makes up for it by bribing me with Potato Corner fries and Spaceburger or taking me to Jollibee. How he gives me my own time and space, without me asking, as if I haven't had enough of it for the longest time. How he tags me on animal videos he just saw on Facebook because he knows it will lighten up my mood. How he makes faces because he just wants to make me laugh. How he tries to educate me on things he's good at (Math, mostly), and how he values the things that are most important to me: my family and friends.

These may not be a lot, not really some ideal person I've ever imagined and wished for, not some trendsetter-relationship-goal-hipster couple, perfectly made for each other that a lot must have dreamt of. But it doesn't bother me too much. I've learned that what matters the most is how genuine your feelings are for each other, not just for the mere purpose of showing it off (but hell you have all the rights to be proud and brag about it so go on, because I've always appreciated and supported happy couples), but to make one feel that he/she is sincerely loved and valued.