Recently I got to know two lovely couples and listening their stories made me think a lot. One is Straight couple together for 30 years, and one is Gay couple together for 20 years. Both couples also from Taiwan. Of course their stories and advice only for references not guidlines, because every couple has different way to sustain the relationship.
Gay couple is Kevin Tsai (蔡康永 - writer & TV host) and his partner, you can google to know more about him. He is one of the celebrities that I love so much. He is not good looking, but his talent his attitude and thinking of life are very impressive. At Asian country, it's quite hard a gay couple being accepted and make people jealous of their long lasting relationship. They made it.
The common thing they shared about secret of long lasting relationship, is think about why you chose that person at the first place. We can change partner easily, but we have to pay out many things at the same time. Maybe we feel the "freshness" of new partner, but put ourselves as outsider, is it really what you want?? Chose who you love, and love who you chose.
At the beginning, don't put all hopes on the partner, the good qualities of that person are not forever there, we need to sustain it together, and deal with the changes. Some people say it's not good to try change your partner, but is it really true? " 80% of people think a person has changed, but they just didn't know what he/she actually was. "
Imagine you have been with your partner for 20 years, do you think some changes of that person still not good? Some changes is alright, bad or good still let you know what's the best for each other, just don't keep demanding for changes and yourself also not willing to change.
"[Enjoy] is more precious than [Own]. We [enjoy] air, but can't [own] air, we [enjoy] the sunlight, but can't [own] the Sun. Similarly, we [enjoy] friendship and family, but no way and also can't think to [own] friend and family. We also [enjoy] Love, but we can't try to [own] the lover. Just enjoy it, [Enjoy] really more precious than [Own]."
"You want to own your lover? However, you can own what from him? His sickness? His scars? You can own his memories? None of them you can, so you still want to own what? Just loving each other is enough."
"You feel so alive and happy when truly loving a person, this is the best gift you can get from love. Hence, how much love he can give back to you doesn't really that important anymore."
I guess we all hope there is the one we can holding hand together till end.