To be an independent woman is to trust yourself. It is to believe that your life is about fulfilling your individual potential. And while that can and often does include a happy, loving partnership, independent women do one thing -- one crucial thing -- differently: they put themselves first in a world that all but demands they do the opposite.
Committing to someone genuinely can feel sacrificial. You're allowed to be afraid of losing the thing you likely value most, but you're not allowed to let that fear hold you back from other things you want just as much.
2.Historically, you weren't supposed to maintain your "self," which is part of why it seems so difficult to do now.
在过去,女子不得不改变“独自”的观念,正因为此,当下的你也会感到阻碍重重。
Back in the day, you were supposed to find an individual to marry, have your father "give you away" (pass you on as property) at the ceremony, take your new husband's last name, and dedicate your life to your relati**hip. You didn't have to maintain your sense of self, and it was more of an inconvenience than anything else. The idea that women can both be completely in love and completely devoted to themselves and to their life's work is new territory, and it's culminated in this feeling that we must do everything flawlessly.
3.Independent women are not made for relati**hips in the way that women are "supposed" to be -- and their love is better for it
一位独立女子的爱情与一般女人“应该”拥有的不一样——她们的感情也因此更美好
We're not completely, singularly devoted to one thing or another. We value our alone time and sometimes our work or art or well-being comes first. This does not make us unequipped for real love, it facilitates it. The more we ground in who we actually are, the more we can bring that person to a genuine relati**hip. But getting there often requires letting go of expecting it to look the way the relati**hips we idolized growing up did. It's rewriting the narrative of what a love is "supposed" to be, and how it "should" feel.
4. Independent women tend to have incredibly high expectati**.
独立的女子往往对感情有着超高的期许
That's usually the reason why they have trouble with relati**hips -- romantic and not. We all know the "successful woman" archetype as it's traditionally presented: a cold, calculated, unemotional workaholic. We assume it's this nature that makes them always saddled with relati**hip issues, but more often, it's that they have such sky-high expectati** for themselves and for their work, they have a really hard time not holding their relati**hips to the same standards. The only problem with that is a lack of insight: you can change your career, but you cannot change another person to be what you expect. And so long as you're focused on changing someone, you're not focused on loving him or her.
5. Your partner won't be the most important part of your life, but he or she will be one of them.
你的情人或许不是你生命中唯一最重要的人,但他会是你生命中最重要的人之一
Your relati**hip will come first at times, your work will come first at times, your self will come first at times. It depends on the time, and it depends how well you're able to break yourself free of the obligati** you feel subc**ciously compelled to. The truth is that nobody puts any one of these things first c**istently. People who effectively balance everything that is important to them in their lives learn when and how to prioritize.
6. You can be independent and also be connected to another person. The right relati**hip will make you feel seen and respected for who you are and what you want.
If at any point your partner makes you feel guilty, or as though you have to choose between who and what you love, you're probably not with the right person. Or, rather, he or she is not the someone with whom you will be able to build a truly fulfilling life. The best relati**hips are the ones that make you more yourself, not less. Even if your fears flare up at the beginning, the right person will reassure you that he or she is not only tolerant of the life you want, not only supportive of it... but it's what they love about you most.