My girlfriend and I spend a ton of time together, and we really enjoy it. But we also give each other time off.

Even if it’s just 10 minutes driving alone in the car, 20 minutes downstairs meditating, or spending an afternoon just puttering around the house in separate rooms – it doesn’t matter. You still need to get your alone time. Are you in relationship in which you both are always on top of each other? And do you feel like you never get that time to just recharge your batteries?

A lot of people fail to realize that alone time is healthy. Sure, it feels great to be next to your lover at all times. But if you’re with the right person in the right relationship, you could be sitting on the couch, watching a movie or holding hands where you’re both in your own little world, yet you are still connected to each other.

You could recharge your batteries in this way. Or you could be lying in bed next to your lover, reading a book and really getting into what you’re reading. You might be sitting right next to your lover, but you can still have your alone time.

Alone time is great. Going out with your friends is healthy.

How many of you are in relationships – or have been in relationships in the past – where you get shit from your lover whenever you go out with your friends? Does your boyfriend or girlfriend get jealous and pissed whenever you leave them? That’s not healthy.

If you’re in a relationship and your partner is doing that to you, you need to know that you’re in a very unhealthy relationship. Having friends and family and separate lives is what makes the relationship healthy.

Being two unique individuals who get together and combine their lives – yet still have their own separate lives – is the way to go. You should never have to constantly answer to somebody because you went out with your friends.

A friend of mine once wrote to me and said, “David, I just don’t understand. Every time I go out with my friend Bill, my girlfriend gets all pissed off because she doesn’t like him. This is starting to ruin my friendship with Bill and we’ve been friends for 30 years!” She has no right to do that!

Another friend of mine got married to a woman who did not like his mother. Through the course of their marriage, my friend’s relationship with his mother eroded and they lost contact for ten years. My friend’s mother was deprived of meeting her grandchildren.

The minute they got divorced, my friend went and reconnected with his mother. Unfortunately, the kids had been poisoned against their grandmother and didn’t want to meet her.

This is not what life is about! You have to accept who your lover is – their friends, family, and every aspect of their life. If you can’t, then you’re not in a real, healthy relationship!

Now I know some of you are going to rebut today and write to me, “Well I don’t like that he goes out with Dave all of the time because they’re always getting drunk and looking at women.”

That STILL is an immature relationship. But even if he’s getting drunk with his friend Dave and they’re looking at women, he’s still not going home with any of these women.

Men will always look at women. Who cares? It’s time to get secure with yourself and have a real honest and open relationship – this is something I talk about in a lot of my new relationship products.

How do you have an open relationship? I’m not talking about a 70s swinger-type relationship; I’m talking about being open and honest about who you are and being an accepting person.

Isn’t that who you fell in love with – that unique and interesting individual who came into your life? Not a clone, or someone you tried to transform into your ideal mate?