You know that magical feeling, don’t you? Your eyes lock with that alluring person across the room, and you can’t help but approach them. Your conversation is effortless, with just the right combination of banter and substance that leaves you feeling both charmed and charming.

As you acquaint yourself with this delightful stranger even more, you somehow get to know each other, and everything clicks into place. Your goals, values, personalities, and passions synchronize in complete and utter harmony, and in time you find that you are unable to imagine your life without that person.

Yeah, I don’t know that feeling, either. Because here’s the thing: I don’t have a fairy tale romance, and anyone who says they do is either delusional or lying.

While it is impossible to have a perfect, ‘fairy tale’ romance, there is the constant pressure to have something so unattainable. Couples post cutesy pictures on social media and are declared to be ‘relationship goals.’ Celebrity or entirely fictional couples who exist only in the realm of entertainment are hailed as the role models for our relationships. Yet, we are all chained to the myth that we must have a relationship that meets these standards.

I do not have a fairy tale romance. While my partner and I appreciate each other and constantly communicate our thoughts, desires, and aspirations, we are not in perfect harmony all the time. We do not understand each other’s points of views on religion, politics, and other topics. We do not go out of the way to coordinate grand gestures to express how we feel. Nothing we do will ever be worthy of flaunting to everyone on social media. Yet, our relationship is not any less valid.

I may not have a fairy tale romance, but I have a relationship that I highly value. Instead of some melodramatic, constantly adventurous affair, I have someone that I can look to for companionship, support, and guidance. I have someone who may not always understand what I want or how I am feeling, but I have someone who will be compassionate and sympathetic.

Pursuing a relationship straight out of a romantic-comedy film is not only pointless, but it is also childish. You will not find someone who knows how to fulfill your heart’s every desire and who knows how to be your other half. When you put romantic relationships on such a precariously high pedestal, you fail to acknowledge any romantic partners as people. Instead, you view them as the means to the end of finding a soulmate. You dismiss all of their fears, flaws, insecurities, and possibly unpleasant aspects of their humanity, because perfect relationships don't have the room for any of those.

The bursts of passion and the grand gestures will fade away with time. Novelty wears off, and you will be left with a relationship built on the foundation you provided it with. Often, I find that couples who have built their relationship on the initial frenetic flurries of romance lack the emotional depth and connection that is essential to creating a relationship that can endure almost anything.

So, do you want a relationship that could be easily conjured from the mind of chick flick screenwriter, or something forged from authenticity and depth?

Well, I know what I want.