In some part inspired by @trekker4747s' recent aborted relationship themed thread I'm curious what insights people have into how various factors help to shape and define the dynamics within relationships.
What influence do differing personalities have on the choice of partner (or partners), how do social norms and pressures influence the form those relationships take? Do people believe a traditional monogamous marriage is still the default, or are we as a society more open and accepting of less conventional formats?
I know this is vague and somewhat open ended, but that is deliberate in that I'm curious what insights people could offer without me unduly influencing the input.
I'm open to different formats, but I guess I do fall into the general two person partnership category. In what few relationships I had, I was always drawn to the eccentric intelligent types, especially those who went left when everyone else went right. My relationships didn't last long, though. I guess it came down to me, I'm not really sure. I was either too off-the-wall for some, or too passive for others. I never pushed my will onto anyone. I never tried to make them do anything they didn't want to do. Now, all of this occurred during high school, so it stands to reason any relationship there would be mercurial and fickle in the extreme, considering our collective level of maturity. I haven't had any relationships out of high school, so I can't comment on how a relationship would go today.
I can only say that I'm strongly attracted to intelligence, along with traits that fall under compassion, kindness, humor, these things are important to me. While not a requirement, I'm also attracted to people who love to read, who take pleasure in giving pleasure to others. I can be attracted to loud personalities and quiet personalities, but those personalities have to be net positive, in that if you're loud, you're loud because you're excited, not because you're screaming at someone in a fit of rage. Perpetual happiness is most certainly not a requirement, just to be clear. I simply mean that whomever this person is, their ultimate goal isn't to harm, but to help others.
I'm pansexual, too, so attraction isn't limited solely to women, though I have to admit finding these desired traits in men are not nearly as easy, at least not in my experience.
Still, I'd like to meet somebody who wants to commit, someone who maybe wants a family (whether by adoption or traditional methods), someone who is willing to invest in dreams, but capable of being grounded when absolutely necessary. It seems like a lot, I know.
tl;dr - I'm flexible.
), etc.
