I have always been extremely independent throughout my entire life. Aside from not being financially independent, every aspect of my life, I have been fully reliant on myself. I take pride in being this way because I want this to translate throughout my entire life.

I am more than capable of creating a life for myself without a male's support or money to obtain happiness. This mindset; however, can hinder a relationship with your significant other. With this being said, I want to bring to light that men want to feel that they have some sort of hold on the relationship, and transitioning into a situation where someone else wants you to show emotional reliance on them can be difficult.

A man wants you to stroke his ego, and showing him you have zero reliance on him could cause strain on his manhood.

In my current relationship, I decided to let my boyfriend finally know how I truly feel, and it has caused us to have a deeper bond than we would've ever had. Had I not expressed my feelings, our relationship would've stayed stagnant. I have now brought him into my life and brought him into my family.

This step I feared immensely, but fortunately, it has proven to be one of the best decisions that I could have made. He fits right in and fills a void that I did not even know existed. From this, I learned that taking a risk can make or break a situation. If I had never taken the step that I feared, I never would have given the relationship a chance to fully flourish.

Emotions are not my thing in general, I do not like crying or showing emotion in front of anyone. For some reason, I now am able fully to open up to him, and because of that, I love ending each of my days talking to him. However, focus, determination, and independence are still extremely prevalent in my life. This is a promise that I made to myself due to the fact that I never want to allow anything or anyone to cloud my judgment when it comes to things that will affect me long term.

There is hope in regards to love for girls that share the same personality as me. It is okay to let your guard down with someone who has proven to have good intentions with you. There are many different ways to tell if the intentions with someone is clear. Typically, if you have to question a man's intentions, they are most likely not going to be in your favor.

Taking this into account; always be yourself, thoroughly think things through, take risks, and understand that it does not make you any less independent or strong if you express your feelings to a man.