Why I Choose To Uphold My Standards

In a society of half way relationships, it is so easy to lose focus on what you're truly looking for in someone.

For me, it's a fiercely loyal man who gives me no reason to doubt him. It's a relationship with his family that I hope we can share with our own family one day. It's him remembering the little things about me that not just anyone could guess, but what someone really has to figure out through experience. It's someone who won't settle for mediocre, but strives to be better than he is today. It's someone that I would want my children to mirror. It's someone who I feel contributes so much to my life and happiness that I wouldn't even want to begin to think about my life without them.

Though I could literally go on all day about the standards that I have, I won't. So many women of all ages, myself included, think this checklist that we look for in a man is just some sort of daydream. We feel as though settling on some of the things we look for in someone is only to be expected, we accept less than what we deserve.

But, the point of this is not to tell you that you should tone down all of your wants and needs in a man, but rather to tell you to unapologetically stick to these standards.

Do not apologize for what your Prince Charming is.

As a student of a private, Baptist college that is huge on the idea of "Ring by Spring", I even find myself looking at these picture-perfect relationships and wondering why it's not me booking my engagement pictures (lol). But instead, I focus on who I am and who I want to be.

I know that I can be stubborn, impatient, and sarcastic. I also know that I can be unconditional, attentive, and affectionate. More so than any of these characteristics, I know that it will take a very special man to live with me for the rest of my life.

This is why I will wait. I will wait for the man that I know is right for me and I will trust that the man that God has created just for me is out there knowing that his standards will also be met.