“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than bread.” ~Mother Teresa I’ve been in a relationship with my boyfriend for over four years. We’ve had our fair share of great times and not so pretty moments, but this summer our relationship was put to the test. During that time, I went through some major  transitions with my career and personal development, all things that needed to happen for me to be the best version of myself. Those months were filled with long hours of working and being alone, solely focusing on creating the future I wanted. I was in deep, chasing my dreams, and wouldn’t let anything get in my way. As time went on, I noticed that my partner was slowly slipping away. It wasn’t that he wasn’t coming home or was nowhere to be found. He was responding to the fact that I had lost focus on him. I was failing my partner in the following ways: I didn’t say thank you for all the little things he did for me. I didn’t ask him how his day was. Instead, I was eager to share how my day went. When I faced an obstacle with my goals, I would be rude and short with him. Instead of greeting him with a smile when he arrived home, I treated him as if he was a burden getting in the way of the work I needed to do. Rather than planning and spending time with him, I would work late into the evening. Lastly, I wasn’t present with him. When I did spend time with him, all I did was think about work. My actions and behaviors were so self-centered that I stopping thinking about how he was doing, how his day went, and what he needed support with. The end result: he withdrew. At first I thought he was no longer interested in me, but I eventually came to realize that I wasn’t even close to meeting his needs. And what he needed was simple: appreciation. He had hinted at it several times in his own way, but I’d had blinders on. After months of neglect, my boyfriend and I sat at our kitchen table making small talk and slowly tiptoeing into the conversation of what was and wasn’t working in our relationship. He said, “All I ever want is for you to appreciate me. I don’t need you to cook for me or get all dressed up or buy me things. All I want is to be appreciated.” His honest and vulnerable declaration brought me to tears. I realized then that I had been causing my partner significant pain and suffering for no reason. So, with my heart on the table, my eyes swollen from crying, and a common ground of love to move forward on, I told him this: “From now on, I will appreciate you—the big, the small, the silly, and imperfect. I will appreciate it all. [...]