What did you believe about relationships?

[Sam W]

Because romantic relationships are a common topic both in conversation and in media, most of us develop ideas about what it's like to be in a relationship long before we're ever actually in one. And, often, we discover that the relationships we do end up in look and work differently than we imagined they would.

So, what were some things that you believed about relationships ? Which things actually seemed (or seem) to happen in your IRL relationships, and which things didn't work quite how you were expecting they would? And were there things that never occurred to you when you were imagining your relationships that turned out to be really important?

I have to say that, for me, fights were a big point of difference. In books and movies, pretty much any fight between a couple is this big huge deal that may put the relationship in total jeopardy. In my actual relationship, most fights are about mundane things and are resolved with little to no drama.