Everyone You Cheat With Is a Downgrade

When you're with someone for a long time, whether through a relationship or marriage, it's natural to feel saturated, bored, even unsatisfied. Every issue takes on outsized proportions, every minor argument spirals out of control, and before you know it, even talking to them starts to feel difficult. Sure, you course-correct, but this remains a recurring theme in every relationship. This continues for as long as you live, regardless of who you're with. But when you meet someone new, when you're showered with more attention and care than you're accustomed to, when you feel more understood than you thought you were in your current relationship, it's natural to feel drawn to them. This feels natural, but it isn't. It's incomplete, because there are no stakes. You aren't answerable to her. There are no expectations between you two. So everything feels effortless, serendipitous. But if you think about it, every time you decide to cheat on your partner for someone else, you're settling for…