me_irl

We don’t. Weigh the risk/reward and determine what you really want vs what you’re willing to offer. If you’re not willing to offer a partner who requires the full emotional and social commitment of human connectivity and only in it for base needs, you’re an asshole. If you both agree that it’s just about satisfying each other’s base needs, great. Eventually you get old enough you don’t care anymore and coming home to no one is a blessing, just four walls blocking the noise of society, a dog or cat or both, and the blissful solitude of not having no responsibility for the emotional needs of another human being even if deep down you know yours are unsatisfied. Accept you’re a hot mess that other people shouldn’t have to deal with and make the best of what you’ve got without dragging someone else into your cycle of misery.