I'm liberal. Very liberal. Painfully liberal. My boyfriend is what he characterizes as an open conservative.

And guess what? We still love each other and we don't yell at each other because of our political views.

I like to joke that our relationship is like a bipartisan agreement without all the pettiness and the passive aggressiveness. It is, at its core, a joke, but there is some truth behind it, and I think a lot can be learned from a relationship that comes from opposite sides of the spectrum.

His conservative nature is good for me. If he wasn't around to tell me when I'm looking into something too much or too quickly jumping to conclusions, I think I would have retreated from society to live in the forest as a hermit. He grounds me and reminds me that change is happening, but only if everyone listens to each other. On the other hand, I've opened his eyes to some injustices in our country that he hadn't fully realized before. He listens to what I have to say and I listen to him. As our relationship develops, I can see both of us taking on some of the views of the other, and hopefully, one day, we'll reach an even ground. We challenge each other to see things from the other side, constantly gaining perspective that we otherwise would not have had. If I have any relationship advise, it's to find some one who forces you out of your comfortable headspace and encourages you to think in ways you never thought you would.

We don't agree. Not on a lot of things, yet we still listen. I listen to him talk about how a businessman is good for the U.S. on paper and he listens to my concerns that that same businessman is scary for women and health care. The day after Trump's inauguration, he came with me to a local Women's March, even though I know he felt uncomfortable. We've come to a place in our relationship where the things that are important to one of us are important in an equal way to the other.

Our conversation about politics has value in our more personal conversations. We're now more comfortable with each other when there are things we want to say and conversations that we want to have. In the past, I've been scared to show boys how liberal and feminist I really am for fear that I will scare them away or that they'll stop liking me. At the start of our relationship, he was terrified of sharing his conservative views with me because he was scared I would get angry and dump him right on the spot. Having political conversations requires a great amount of trust in the person you're speaking with. It can be really hard, but it opens the door to more intimate conversations.

Many times our political conversations morph into conversations about us and our future, which are much more fun conversations. I am grateful for the reality he gives me and for the constructive conversations that we have together.

I love our bipartisan relationship, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I can see that we share some of the same views. I'll stay liberal and he'll stay conservative. This relationship proves that you don't have to find someone who agrees with you on everything — actually, I recommend finding someone who doesn't.