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My Boyfriend Doesn’t Make Me Feel Special

Why do we need him to and why do we think we’re not?

Niki Marinis
3 min readJul 15, 2022
Katie Dutch — used with permission

Feeling special is something a lot of us crave in a relationship. We can become so focused on it we’ll find all kinds of evidence to support the belief we’re not special to our significant other.

Evidence like:

  • Attention to others on social media
  • Confiding feelings to others and not you
  • Friendships with other women or even men
  • Spare time being spent with a friend and not you
  • Admiration for another

The need to feel special is the ego talking.

Cultural conditioning doesn’t help this need to feel special. Think of all the extravagant proposal videos on social media. Man takes Woman to mountain top, has singers, dancers, friends and family as witness, and a huge diamond ring.

A girlfriend of mine had a simple proposal at a nice restaurant. She was upset and felt hurt her boyfriend didn’t make it “special.”

She was comparing it to what seems to be the culturally accepted norm. Comparison robs you of joy, and the need to feel special is all about comparison.

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Niki Marinis
Niki Marinis

Written by Niki Marinis

Weird Girl, thrift store owl collector, heartbreaker, lush, aspiring adult. IG: DocJohnnyFever nikimarinis@gmail.com https://nikimarinis.medium.com/subscribe

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