Netflix and chill. Surprise dates. Cuddling. Food surprises. Giant teddy bears. Matching clothes. Pictures together. T.V. show or movie marathons. Everything listed above are examples of cheesy cliche things that couples do together. Are these realistic goals to achieve with your boyfriend/girlfriend?

    Couples Evan Leach and Jessica Polly and Israel Bolanos and Jaclyn Speiser both have a pretty solid idea what their “relationship goals” are. They know the common unrealistic goals, and the realistic ones that they strive towards.

Realistic

Leach and Polly mutually share the same goals, to communicate, making sure that each other are never upset, always trying to make them happy and to trust each other. The two accomplish many of these goals by good communication and putting in the necessary effort.

Bolanos and Speiser both share the goal to study hard and become successful as pediatricians together. They both also share the goal to be happy with each other for as long as they live. Recently Bolanos and Speiser visited Columbus, Ind. by Speiser’s father’s plane for brunch, an event that could very well be considered “goals” by the public, but is a realistic goal for Bolanos and Speiser.

Unrealistic

    An unrealistic goal that Leach and Polly agree upon is all the things you see about buying them underneath the sun, that it’s impossible to do.

“Even though that is important to get them stuff to keep them happy, you don’t need to do it every week,” Leach wrote in an email to the Journal.  

“I see all these Twitter or tumblr goals of these guys or girls getting stuff that’s special, like getting a whole bunch of Pink stuff,” Polly said.

Pre and Post Goals

    Some people have goals they think they want before they’re in a relationship, such as all the unrealistic goals above. After a person enters the relationship however, those goals are susceptible to change.

    Cliché goals that you can easily find on tumblr or twitter that aren’t necessarily the goals that these two couples have. Leach and Polly both had the same goal to be themselves when they were going into a relationship and to become close to each other’s families. Polly considers Leach’s parents to have taken her in as one of their own. Leach has also gotten close to Polly’s younger siblings, considering them family as well.

“I never thought I would end up finding my other half,” Polly said.

Important Goals

To Leach, an important relationship goal is to never let Polly go to bed upset and to do whatever he can to make her happy. Leach leaves Polly good morning text messages to wake up to, to start her day off well. Another important goal to Polly is to make sure Leach looks forward to every weekend knowing that he gets to see her.

“The greatest relationships are the ones you never really expect to be in,” Polly said. “A true relationship goal is two unperfect people refusing to give up on each other.”

Polly’s important goals are to be respectful to one another and to not fight if they don’t have to. An important goal to Bolanos was to have good communication and to not argue if possible.