The man I want to spend the rest of my life with...

The other day, I was reading some blogs and its topic really drew my interest: the kind of man who I would want to fall in love with and spend the rest of my life with.  Before any of you can argue that you can’t control who you fall in love with, I just want to say that yes, I agree.  You cannot control who you are drawn to and have feelings for but I believe you can control who you spend your time with.  And, that makes all the difference.

I guess...I should take a few steps back and share this: last Wednesday, my school had a guest speaker.  The guest speaker’s message was that we, particularly women, should respect ourselves before anyone else.  We should learn to love ourselves for who we are and not fall victim to peer pressure.  We should not let any man invade our personal space just for us to get accepted; in fact, we should not let any man invade our personal space regardless of the reason.  We need to accept and respect ourselves first and foremost.  We are ‘princesses’ and we all deserve a ‘prince’; a man who respect and accept us for who we are.

Too often, we (women) go out of our way to fit in and look attractive to that one boy who isn’t worth our efforts at all.  Too often, women change who they are and lose their identity for that one boy who only wants to get into their pants.  For this generation, it is so difficult to encourage girls and women to be who they are and not fall victim to peer pressure.  It is extremely difficult because of the way women’s image is portrayed in media and, books and films like Twilight.  All of these just send the wrong message to girls – they tell girls that they should dress and act in a certain way to gain the attention of men and jealousy of other girls AND that it is okay to want to die for the boy you love.  On all levels, it’s just wrong.

Every girl has an ideal man; some want a prince charming and some want a knight-in-shining-armor.  As for me, I don’t want either of those.  I want to fall in love and spend the rest of my life with my equal.  I want to fall in love with a man who sees me as his equal on all levels; a man who appreciates my values and beliefs, accepts my strengths and weaknesses, supports my dreams and goals, understands my ignorance and interests, and, above all else, enjoys my company.  I want to spend the rest of my life with someone who sees me as an equal and not of inferior status; someone who respects me on all levels and embraces my rights as a human being as he embraces his.  I don’t need a prince charming or a knight-in-shining-armor to save me and take me to happily-ever-after; instead, I want a man who treats me as his equal to support, respect, and love me for all that I am.  I don’t want a man who will do everything for me; I want a man who encourages me to try harder and when I fall, he’s not going to just pick me up – he’s going to make me get up myself with his words of support.

This is something that I’ve always held since middle school: I want to fall in love and spend the rest of my life with a man who has a dream and/or goal in life.  I believe that when a man does not have a goal or dream for him to chase after, he’s somewhat lost in life; he has no ambition and motivation.  He has no path.  Therefore, I want a man who has an ambition, who has something he wants in life, who has something that he’s willing to fight for, who has something that he’s willing to sacrifice for, who has something that he’s willing to chase after, who has something that he’s willing to live his life for…  Basically, I want a man who appreciates the beauty of breathing and living, loves life to the fullest, and does not – for one second – take life for granted.

And together, we will be each other’s support system and each other’s best friend.  That’s the kind of man I want to fall in love with and spend the rest of my life with.