15 Must-Knows about relationships

1. You have to share the same values. If you have different opinions on Coldplay or you don't share the same sleep number of hours, you’ll probably be OK. But no long-term relationship can survive if you don't agree on things like when to seriously start saving money to buy a home, when to turn off your cell phones and spend time with your families, and whether or not you desire to have kids.

2. It's all up to you when it comes to your personal relationship in a couple. Ask your friends and family for advice all you want and listen to it! They know you and they love you, but if your intuition guides you to do the opposite, listen to it.

3. Show your soap opera you care to watch. Here’s a great rule: if one of you cares about something, it isn’t stupid, no matter what it is. (Even if it's stupid for the outsiders.)

4. The couples who stay together forever work through the things that could break them up. If they permanently stay together for decades and decades, they take the rough times in stride and always prioritize their commitment to each other over fights and hard times.

5. Sex matters. Sex is a physical way to show the person you love how much you care about them. Sex doesn't have to be your number one priority all the time, but neither of you will be happy if you hit the three-year anniversary and sex ended up as your last priority, all the time.

6. Sometimes when one person's life majorly changes, their values change. Moving cities for a job or school, losing a parent, or getting a huge promotion at work can change how a person approaches life. If this happens and you find that your values no longer align, it's fine to move on and find someone who is on the same page as you.

7. Don't snoop! Ever! If you have doubts, talk about them. Snooping always backfires. Always!

8. If you spend all your time looking for someone who's exactly like the ex you're still in love with, you'll never find anyone. At best, you'll get a crummy knockoff of your ex, rather than a unicorn you love for being the unicorn he is.

9. Looks, height, job description, or income bracket won't make someone love you more. If you refuse to date anyone who doesn't meet a set of criteria, you might find yourself spending more time looking for someone who checks off boxes than someone who adores the hell out of you and makes you really freaking happy. Being material is just shallow and the best things in life is for free, including love.

10. Your relationship doesn't compare to anyone else's. Your parents had an awful divorce? That doesn't mean your relationship is doomed to have the same fate. That couple you know who seems ten times more perfect than you and your significant other? Either they're psychopaths who suppress all their feelings in an effort to seem perfect or they fight when you're not looking. Stop comparing!

11. You can't change another person. People change all the time by their free will, but never go into a relationship planning to mold the other person to your liking. If someone does change for the sake of a relationship working, it has to come from him, not you.

12. If your relationship makes you feel bad way more than it makes you feel great, you'd better end it as soon as. Your relationship isn’t always going to be all smiles and cuddles, but if you realize you haven't been having fun or feeling good about yourself the majority of the time, and it stems from your relationship, this isn’t the right relationship for you.

13. No one can read your mind. If you want him to make you dinner on Valentine's Day, you can't say you "don't care" about Valentine's Day and then get upset when he doesn't do anything for you on Valentine's Day. If you need or want something from him, you have to tell him straight and openly!

14. Communication is the key to solving problems and preventing fights. Use "I" statements. Don't yell at each other. If you're going to fight, make sure it's productive and you solve the problem so you don't have the same draining fight over and over again.

15. Your relationship is everything. When you look back at your life, you won't wish you spent more time answering email or looking at Facebook. You'll think about the person you loved and all the amazing things you did together.