"Date someone who surprises you."

"Date someone who buys you presents."

"Date someone who will start play fights with you."

These are actual "relationship goals" that I have either heard, or read, on social media. While I do think it is important to have standards, and goals you want to accomplish when in a relationship, I also firmly believe that these relationship goals are getting out of hand. My significant other and I have been together for about six years total, and some have told us that we are "relationship goals", but if I'm being completely honest, we did not get here on happiness alone.

Six years is a long time when you start dating at sixteen, and trust me, I had no idea we would make it this far. But the only reason we have made it as far as we have is because we didn't go into this looking for a Facebook ready relationship. We went into it because we cared about each other and wanted to be together, and that holds true to this day. We are together because we want to be. Relationships are extremely hard work, and if we were not willing to work for this there is no way that we would still be together.

The reality of the situation is that he is not perfect, but neither am I, and we love each other anyway. He doesn't buy me flowers every day, and sometimes he forgets special holidays. He sometimes goes too far with his jokes, and he is the most stubborn person I have ever met in my entire life, but I love him anyway. We may bicker like brother and sister, and we may fight over the stupidest things like what the correct way to fold a shirt is (seriously, we actually had a fight about that one time), but at the end of the day I can look at him and call him my best friend. There is no one that I would rather spend the rest of my life with. Because he brings me coffee when I have an early shift at work, he goes and picks up my lunch for me when I leave it in the refrigerator at home, he rubs my feet when I've had a long day, and he listens to me complain about my problems. He treats me like an equal, and lets me play video games on his account even though I completely suck at them. Despite all of his flaws, he is a wonderful man. Just because he does not embody the stereotypical relationship goals, he embodies my relationship goals, and he is my best friend.

So the next time you scroll through your Facebook feed and daydream about your prince charming and all of the qualities he will hold, just remember that nobody is perfect. But if he admits it when he's wrong, isn't afraid to tell you when you're wrong, and puts you first in his life and his heart, then I think he's worth the effort.