16 Relationship Expectations That Are Actually Ruining Your Love Life
Consciously or unconsciously creating a timeline that your relationship milestones must follow, based on the way that other people's relationships have moved along.
By 
Kim Quindlen
1. Assuming that an argument can only be a bad sign, and that happy couples barely ever fight.
2. Expecting that your partner should always be able to read your thoughts and to understand your feelings without you verbalizing them.
3. Convincing yourself that if the relationship doesn’t feel effortless, it must be a bad sign.
4. Telling yourself that you shouldn’t ‘bother them’ by needing to talk about little things that worry you or stress you out.
5. Believing that being in a relationship and being independent have to be mutually exclusive.
6. Assuming that you’re always supposed to be completely, overwhelmingly attracted to your partner.
7. Convincing yourself that every other couple you know is happier than you, based only on what you see on social media.
8. Believing that you’ll always be able to predict how they’re going to feel or how they’re going to react to something.
9. Assuming that they’ll know what you’re mad about without explaining yourself.
10. Consciously or unconsciously creating a timeline that your relationship milestones must follow, based on the way that other people’s relationships have moved along.
11. Getting in the habit of having an argument with them in your head but not bothering to have it with them in person.
12. Believing that in order to have a happy relationship, you must be happy all the time.
13. Assuming that being emotionally detached is better than being angry, when in reality, they’re both equally harmful to a relationship.
14. Thinking that having an inflexible list of must-have characteristics in a partner is the same thing as having standards.
15. Convincing yourself that your relationship will be the solution to most problems in your life in one way or another – when in reality, it’s more about having a partner to help you get through it, rather than a partner who gets through it for you.
16. Relying on your partner to be the sole provider of your happiness, rather than looking at them as one (important) piece that contributes to your overall happiness. 
