This Is Us

I Want a Partner Who Expands My World, Not Fits Into It

But according to the men I know, the feeling’s not universal

Emily J. Smith
Published in
9 min readAug 18, 2020

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Double exposure of a couple standing on staircase against railing.
Photo: Sophie Filippova/Getty Images

An ex of mine, who I’ll call Matt, recently admitted that if he were to meet someone with a life as established as his own — someone extremely committed to her job, who owned a house, and felt rooted in her community — it…

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Emily J. Smith
Human Parts

Writer and tech professional. My debut novel, NOTHING SERIOUS, is out Feb '25 from William Morrow / HarperCollins (more at emjsmith.com).