I ran across an interesting comparison of relationships vs an amusement park, and the speaker made an excellent point: If you go to the amusement park and ride the rides, but the entire time you’re thinking about how expensive the ride is, and how upset you are that you spent that money, you’re going to miss the enjoyment of the ride.
But if instead you think, “The park costs x amount. And I get to do this, and this thing over there, and that over there.. And OH! (pointing) that thing over there too!” you’ll enjoy it.
We humans so easily focus on the negative. It’s almost like we’re programmed to complain. In its good form, complaints fuel innovation, change, and improvement. But in its negative form, we dwell on it, and we don’t use that energy to improve, we simply fester.
There are no perfect relationships, because there are no perfect people. Everyone has a price of admission. There will be something about a person you won’t like. Probably lots of things. And if we focus on those, we’ll fester. But instead, if we think about all the joys and experiences we get to share, maybe we can stop dwelling on the price of admission, and simply enjoy the ride.