My boyfriend and I have been dating for a little over a year. Throughout the year, we've learned more about each other than we ever could have imagined. He truly knows me better than I know myself. There will be times where he can figure out what's bothering me quicker than I can.

When you're with someone for over a year, you develop a connection with them. You learn the good stuff and the bad stuff. Both about them as a person, their past and what they want in their future. We are VERY open with our communication about everything.

We are set on creating a future together because we feel we are meant for each other.

So, I find it comical when I see people's reactions when I happen to check my boyfriend's location.

I know exactly what you're thinking. "What crazy girlfriend feels the need to check her boyfriend's location??"

While people can believe what they may, I'm actually not checking it to see if he's with another girl or if he's cheating on me. I'm checking it solely to see where he is.

My boyfriend works for a construction company. One that has him at a different location at any given moment. Along with that, he takes classes for said construction job and there's a lot of time throughout the day where we can't exactly catch up on where the other is.

It actually started with my boyfriend's mom. She has the Life360 app, similar to Apple's Find My Friends app. We have a little group that we share our location with. There's me, his mom, his dad, two out of his four brothers, and our roommate. We live next door to his parents so it's pretty much the two houses. That way, without having to call or text to see where they are, she knows. While it wasn't myself who started the sharing location, it has helped immensely.

I had talked to him about it when she invited me to the circle. I wanted to make sure he was comfortable with that and wanted him to know that it wasn't my initial idea. He said he has nothing to hide and that he enjoys the idea of sharing locations. If anything ever happens to us, or we aren't answering our phone for whatever reason, we can find out if the other needs help or make sure we are safe.

It actually comes in handy.

I have a history of passing out. While we still haven't quite figured out the reasoning behind it, it can happen at any given moment. It's not frequent, but it does happen. Since he has seen me pass out before, he always gets nervous that I'm going to be unconscious and he won't be able to find me. This way, he can. The same thing goes for him with the construction job. If he's working at a location in another state and gets hurt, I can find out the nearest hospital he could be transported to because of his shared location.

It may seem a little "much" for some people, but after a study out of 27 people, I've found out that 17 of them also share their location with their significant other. And all 17 of them said it genuinely makes them feel safer. The other 10 didn't necessarily explain why they don't, but one responded with this, "we don't necessarily share our locations with each other, but we do always know where each other is at. I know it makes me feel better to know where my S.O. is, even if we don't officially share locations with each other."

Overall, location sharing isn't always a control thing. Are there situations where that's the case? Of course! But don't look down on my boyfriend and me for feeling safer doing it, if we are mutually agreeing to because of safety.