You Don’t Have To Have Everything In Common With Your Boyfriend

There are certain big, important things that you and the guy you’re dating should probably have in common, but you don’t have to be a carbon copy of each other in order to be compatible. Here are 10 things it’s totally cool (and potentially super interesting) to feel differently about:

  1. Taste in music. It’s next to impossible to find someone who likes all the exact same songs as you do. Besides, it’s nice to have someone introduce you to new bands sometimes, and if you liked all the same music, you wouldn’t be able to torture him by blasting Justin Bieber’s new album during a road trip.
  2. Exercise of choice. There are some couples who go to the gym together, take yoga classes together, and run every 5k race they can find together. But if you’d rather get sweaty when your boyfriend isn’t around, that’s fine too. Completely understandable, really.
  3. Diet. There are plenty of ways to modify a meal to fit a range of different dietary restrictions. There might be certain restaurants you’ll have to avoid if one of your is gluten-free or a vegetarian, but generally, even wildly different food preferences shouldn’t be a deal breaker.
  4. Career ambitions. Someone’s career is highly personal, and the path one person takes to achieve their goals is unique to their field and personality. You might be extremely ambitious, and have dreams of being the boss, while he is perfectly content with a more laid back, freelance-type lifestyle. As long as you’re both happy with your choices, it shouldn’t affect your relationship one bit.
  5. Reading material. Your reading list includes everything from the latest thriller, to a graphic novel series, to the occasional mindless beach read. His is strictly sports and historical biographies and reddit. So what? If you think this matters, you should rethink your priorities.
  6. Friend groups. It’s great when you have a few mutual friends, especially some couples you both genuinely want to hang out with. But it’s also great, and frankly smart, for both of you to have friends groups that aren’t reliant on your status as a couple. Don’t dump all your single girl friends just because you’re in a relationship, because you never know when you might find yourself single again.
  7. Fashion sense. Have you always dreamed about having a guy who actually has an opinion other than how great your ass looks in the new dress you just got? While they do exist, there are just as many guys out there (if not more) who wouldn’t even notice you got a new dress. He’ll probably never understand how you could spend $300 on a purse either. Luckily you don’t have to tell him how much it cost.
  8. Your favorite TV shows. It’s always fun to have a couple shows you always watch together, but chances are you’re not going to see eye to eye on every show that’s on TV. For example, watch Girls and Pretty Little Liars with your friends, and leave him to watch sports highlights with his. He’ll be right there, planted on the couch when you get home.
  9. Family background. Your family and your unique upbringing isn’t something you had control over. Whatever it was like, it made you who you are, but just because you’re parents were divorced doesn’t mean you’re more compatible with a guy who also has parents that split up. Wacky families keep things interesting, so you should give guys from all different backgrounds a chance.
  10. Your opinions. No couple agrees on everything, all the time, no matter what. But not every argument has to be a full blown fight. For some things you might just have to agree to disagree, and that’s fine, as long as you’re both able to compromise when it counts.
By day, Courtney is a digital marketing copywriter living in Toronto, Canada. By night, she's a freelance lifestyle writer who, in addition to Bolde.com, contributes regularly to AmongMen.ca, IN Magazine, and SheBlogs Canada. Want to chat about relationships, Stephen King or your favorite true crime podcast/documentary/book? She's on Twitter @courtooo.
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