Originally Posted by Martel

All of these people saying "of course you shouldn't/don't/mustn't need to spend all/most of your time with only your s/o, if you don't have apart time you'll hate each other" are missing something: everyone is different.

Different people have different needs, and the same people can have different needs at different stages in their lives.

Don't treat people like they should all be the same (this is what your s/o needs to understand as well). Some people get along just fine focusing everything they've got onto one other person, and some people need to have people with whom they can hang out and shoot the shit and not have to see them for more than an hour or three.

When a person is with an s/o, they are both concerned with each other (or at least should be), but I think some people (guys more so than girls? I dunno) need some kind of interaction that involves being with people but not really CARING all that much (I'm not saying that people don't care about their friends, but there's a big difference between being out with your s/o and paying full attention to each other and sitting around watching the game with your buddies and just sort of marginally acknowledging each others presences).

Some people just can't (or don't want to have to) handle being fully emotionally invested in all of their company, all of the time.

But the main point is that there is not some "right way to do it" that everyone needs to follow.