What makes non-sexual intimate relationships so great is that they don’t have the labels and expectations that society places on other relationships. You can map and feel your way through a friendship as you please without turning it into a performance. Nobody is pressuring you into making colossal life choices together, and you don’t have to

don’t believe that you have to love yourself or fix all of your flaws before you meet someone, because emotional work is lifelong and there’s no finishing line. But I do believe that you have to consider yourself worthy enough to receive love, and for some of us who put our needs last, that requires emotional growth.

whatever comes your way, you know you can walk away.

We’re allowed to love being single. We’re allowed to value this time in our lives for all its freedom and possibility. We’re allowed to stop spinning our wheels, and start loving our lives. That

The secret is building on your internal strength, so that

Men enter relationships as if they’re working at a job they hate, reaping as many benefits as possible

you have to lean into the really uncomfortable feeling of making a risky career choice, which means not knowing where your next pay cheque might come from. But you have to believe in the long-term vision, which for me is being as independent as possible.

allowed stories of how people met to broaden our minds? What if these stories served as reminders of the infinite number of ways people meet and fall in love?

Spending time alone made me realise that I spent so much energy putting people through tests, instead of working on my resilience. The answer is more about you knowing that you will be fine, no matter what happens, and that you have the strength to get through anything. Trying to control any outcome – especially when it comes to another person –