List of things that can be sacrificed in order to make a romantic or marital relationship work:
- Being right about everything all the time (i.e. arrogance).
- Absolute control over everything (i.e. tyranny).
- Insisting on getting something first (i.e. selfishness).
- Always having the last word (i.e. pride).
- Refusing to forgive your partner when your partner willfully continues to be disagreeable towards you (i.e. mercilessness).
- Refusing to listen to your partner (i.e. stubbornness).
- Refusing to be honest with your partner (i.e. dishonesty).
- Holding a grudge against your partner (i.e. being totally unforgiving).
- Taking your partner for granted.
- Putting your feelings first, and your partner's feelings last.
- Insisting that your partner think, feel, and act like you. Insisting that your partner have the same tastes, likes, and dislikes that you have.
- Being hostile and malignant towards your partner, for whatever reason.
- Treating your partner like the enemy (i.e. mistrust).
- Constantly analyzing, scrutinizing, judging, and condemning your partner.
- Being impatient with and doubtful about your partner.
- Your "lover on the side" (i.e. someone, or even something, other than your partner) (i.e. infidelity).
List of things that CANNOT be sacrificed:
- Your spirituality and religious beliefs (or atheism, if you have no spirituality).
- The body you were born with (including all of its body-parts and its specific characteristics).
- Your purpose in life, and the talents you were born with.
- Your personal tastes, likes, and dislikes. (The only exceptions are when you like something that is essentially harmful or fatal to someone else, or when you dislike something that is essentially just and right for everyone.)
- Your essential responsibilities for yourself, your home, and your relationships with people around you.
- Your children (if you have any).
- Virtue, dignity, integrity, and self-respect.
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