My love for love, relationships and marriage has been ongoing since I can remember. I’ve studied it, been trained to deal with it and have observed relationships nearly half of my life. As a result, I’ve learned quite a bit about how and why they work. One of my biggest takeaways from those observations is that relationships will always be imperfect.

There will always be peaks and valleys in a relationship. As a couple, you will disagree from time to time. Your spouse will anger or disappoint you at some point. You will even anger or disappoint your spouse. Your marriage may not be perfect, but it’s okay. And here are three reasons why:

1. You’re human.
It’s okay to be human and vulnerable within your relationship. Whenever you make mistakes, it proves you too have weaknesses just like every other person in this world. To be aware is to be alive. Your ability to know you and embrace the things you don’t necessarily love about yourself is good for your marriage, especially when you’re willing to do the same for your spouse.

2. You and your spouse have differences.
Not very many of us marry someone who is just like us. For that reason, couples should expect to disagree. It’s only natural that some of your opinions will differ. Disagreements shouldn’t break you. Each one presents an opportunity to learn something new about your spouse and should provide an opportunity to strengthen your marriage.

3. You’ll become stronger as a result of life’s ups and downs.
People grow during life’s trials. The greatest lessons I’ve learned came from the mistakes I’ve made, and yes, my imperfections. My marriage wouldn’t be where it is today if I hadn’t had those experiences.

4. Your quest to create perfection would cause unnecessary stress.
Of course, we should be working on the areas of weakness. However, we should do so with an understanding that both you and your spouse have flaws. And you should accept one another in spite of those flaws.

5. Your bond will grow and your relationship will adapt for the better.
If your relationship was perfect, that means there isn’t any room for growth and everything will basically stay the same. Growth is necessary in marriage. You and your partner will continuously find new and better ways to do things in your marriage. And that’s a great thing.

The less we strive for perfection, the more we can truly live and enjoy our marriages. We might not ever be the perfect couple, but the key is to be perfect for each other.

BMWK, what are your thoughts? Is there a such thing as the perfect couple?