I’ve been in a relationship for a few months now and it has been great. I’ve been loving every second of it and we’ve been having so much fun. But, as with all things in life, there are some pros and cons. Not cons that are necessarily specific to my relationship, just relationships in general. Let’s start with the pros, in no particular order.

PROS

1. Inside jokes

These aren’t specific to romantic relationships, but I’ve found that my boyfriend and I have some ridiculous inside jokes. I always try to be careful around other people when we say things about them, because out of context they make exactly zero sense. They’re so fun though, I love them.

2. Having someone to stay up all night with

I’m a total night owl, so having someone to stay up with and talk to is great. Even if we’re not talking about anything exciting or important, it’s just nice to be able to talk to someone. Because sometimes at three or four in the morning, anxiety decides to kick in and having someone to talk to is super calming.

3. Movie marathons

I think that movie marathons are great. I love having them with my friends and family because we’re usually doing it for a purpose. Like when my mom, sisters, and I binge watched all of the Marvel movies related to The Avengers before we went to see that in theaters. Or when my best friend and I marathon the Harry Potter movies because it’s a tradition and we love them. But movie marathons with my boyfriend are interesting because we end up watching the weirdest combination of movies. One day we watched The Lion King, Space Jam, Pocahontas, and Night at the Museum back to back. I never know what to expect, but it’s so much fun.

4. Taking pictures

I love taking pictures. I think it’s so much fun and I love to have tons of pictures to remember fun events. Which is great because my boyfriend and I always take a ton of pictures when we’re together. Even when we’re just doing something as simple as cooking together or watching a movie, we always manage to snap a few pictures.

5. Sharing interests

I think one of my favorite things so far has been that we have both exposed each other to so many new things. I introduced him to one of my favorite foods (Ecuadorian ceviche) and he’s slowly trying to get me to listen to his favorite kind of music (metal). It’s just a lot of fun to see someone experience things for the first time. (I’m going to introduce him to the Harry Potter series soon and I’m super excited about it.)

6. Pet names

Honestly, I never thought I would be someone who likes having or using pet names. I usually call people by nicknames if that’s what they like, but pet names were never really a thing I thought I would use. I’m surprisingly a fan of it though. And we’re always coming up with new ones for each other, usually stemming from another odd inside joke.

CONS

1. Having different schedules

Sometimes one of you has to work weekends or study for exams for the whole weekend, so you won’t be able to see each other. Or during school breaks when you’re in completely different time zones and have different daily schedules. Or even on a daily basis when breaks from class and work don’t line up so you don’t get a chance to talk for basically the whole day. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess. The only nice thing is getting to have a long catch up conversation at the end of the day.

2. Opening up to someone new

A lot of people have problems with opening up to someone new. Sometimes it can be difficult to talk about the past or just to talk about yourself in general. Whether it’s because you’re not very comfortable talking about your past of you just really don’t like to, don’t push your partner to talk if they’re not ready yet.

3. Familial disapproval

Sometimes families can be very disapproving of relationships. In our case, everyone from both sides has been happy for us and very approving. But there are a lot of situations where someone from one side or the other finds fault with the relationship and make it known. Which can be very awkward and put a strain on the relationship, which totally sucks.

4. Differing opinions

Sometimes you don't realize until you're well into a relationship that you have some opinions that just really don't add up. Whether they are something big like political opinions or something as simple as food opinions, this is definitely something that could make people reevaluate where this relationship is going. I'd consider this a con only when nothing constructive comes out the disagreement, which is what happens for a lot of people.

Except for that first con, none of the other ones actually apply to my relationship, but they do exist. Relationships aren’t the most important thing ever, but they are definitely a nice addition to life. The most important thing to remember is that you need to communicate and sometimes you’ll have to compromise, but as long as you’re happy everything will work out.