Here's the REAL one next to you. Funny, gentle, with character, but not clingy. Doesn't press, doesn't get into text messages, doesn't ask "where are you" every 20 minutes. It seems like everything is open space for life, create, breathe, be yourself. But still - some additional freedom is needed. From what? From whom? 🙃

This is not a reproach. Really. I even like watching this. A man in a relationship is almost always like a cat who comes up, curls up, rubs his cheek... and then bam - and goes off to wander on his own. Not because it's bad. It's just necessary. That's the way he breathes.

It used to anger me. I took it personally. Like, am I not like that? Not interesting enough? Do I demand too much? My soul? 🙄 And then I realized - no. It's not about me.

Freedom for them is something separate. It's not "leaving", it's "staying with yourself". As if even in the most sincere feelings they leave themselves a small island. Without a sign. Without strangers. Where you can just be without roles. Not be someone's boyfriend, husband, loved one. Just yourself.

And I myself love my loneliness. I love turning off the world, when no one bothers me, and I can do everything my own way. Why did it seem to me that a man, if he loves, should want to be around all the time? Probably because we women get used to living in "we". And they - in "me + you". And this is the difference that does not make us enemies. It just makes us different.

Sometimes I want to say: "Hey, I'm not holding you back. Go, breathe. Just come back." But I don't say it out loud. I just smile. Because I understand - if he knows how to be alone, he also knows how to be with me for real. Not out of need. But out of choice.

And also... freedom is not always distance. Sometimes it's about trust. About not being pulled, twitched, checked. About "I know you'll come back." About "I feel calm that you're breathing."

So I'm not afraid of this word anymore. I don't get tense when it's said. I just think: if he knows how to be free next to me, it means I'm with the man who won't run away when things get crowded. He'll just take a step to the side, breathe - and come back again. With himself. And not from someone.

And what do you think - can freedom and love go hand in hand? Or is there always one who endures a little? 🤷‍♀️💭

Nata