{"id":5016,"date":"2017-02-07T18:03:21","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T02:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=5016"},"modified":"2017-02-07T18:03:21","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T02:03:21","slug":"individualism-state-togetherness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/individualism-state-togetherness\/","title":{"rendered":"Individualism in a state of togetherness"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre>By: Kristin Norman\r\nCopy Editor<\/pre>\n<p>Being in a healthy relationship can help someone learn about themselves and what they need from another person. As a young, recently married person, I have a lot of growing to do despite my personal relationship. In what many call a process of self-actualization, I will spend the rest of my life working to love and know myself more.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernjournal\/files\/2017\/01\/unnamed-1-219x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"219\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5128 alignleft\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2017\/01\/unnamed-1-219x300.png 219w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2017\/01\/unnamed-1.png 704w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 219px) 100vw, 219px\" \/>While it is great having someone hold me accountable for my actions, challenging me to be a better person and encouraging me in my efforts, the bottom line is that only I can decide to change.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody else can do the difficult task of self-improvement for me. I\u2019ve witnessed far too many people my age seek out self-fulfillment in others while forgetting that they are not who they date.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, I don\u2019t agree with the idea that people should only try dating as a means to understanding who they are and what they want. This way of thinking implies that singledom is something to be overcome instead of embraced.<\/p>\n<p>It may sound overly clich\u00e9 coming from a married person, but there are times when I miss the independence that comes with being single. Singleness provides the opportunity to explore avenues of life without the influence of another person. However, I also believe it\u2019s possible to be with someone who doesn\u2019t hinder your ability to explore those avenues.<\/p>\n<p>With Valentine\u2019s Day just around the corner, remember that being in college is a masterful balancing act that involves the process of self-actualization. If you\u2019re single: be empowered and take the opportunity to know and love yourself. If you\u2019re in a committed relationship: find time to better yourself with the help of someone you love.<\/p>\n<p>Please contact the author at keck14@wou.edu.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Kristin Norman Copy Editor Being in a healthy relationship can help someone learn about themselves and what they need from another person. As a young, recently married person, I have a lot of growing to do despite my personal relationship. In what many call a process of self-actualization, I will spend the rest of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":937,"featured_media":5128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/937"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}