You’re Gonna Have To Accept These 10 Things About Your Partner

(If you want to stay together).

Here’s something you’re probably not expecting to read: You don’t have to like everything about the person you love.

In fact, you probably won’t. No matter how much you like or love someone, there are bound to be things you disagree on — even if it’s something as small as leaving a light on at night.

Some things, though, are more inherent traits or behaviors that we must accept if we want to build a life with someone.

Here are a few to start with:

1: The life they lived before you.

None of us can change the past, but all of us have a past. And, the older that we get, the more varied and intricate the years behind us become.

When you meet someone new, you have no control over what that past looked like, and vice versa. The only thing you really see is the person that it formed in the present moment, as we are all shaped by our life experiences.

While the popular opinion is that people don’t change, I do believe we grow and evolve. I am certainly not the same person, nor do I have the same interests, as 5, 10, or 15 years ago. Do you?