ANumberlessMan

There is absolutely value in long term monogamous relationships. So much value you cannot see it from the inside. It's someone to 'show off' to, and to work for, and to- ineffectively- try to impress. And that matters far, far more than you'd think. It staves off the most brutal of existential crises.

Better a living dog than a dead lion.

Do we know it wasn't just random lightweight trash that has been blown out of proportion?

Everything written in those three sentences you've highlighted from the article is correct. You may not like how they've chosen their three sentences, but these three sentences contain no lies.

Every negative number has 1 as it's first bit, every positive number (including 0) has 0 as its first bit. Therefore first bit encodes sign. The other 15 bits encode value. They may not use the normal binary encoding for negative integers as you'd expect from how we encode unsigned integers, but you cannot explain every detail every time.

I think it's common to go through life thinking that the absolute worse thing you can be is annoying.

You can fear being annoying to the point of becoming mute.

If life looks very small, consider becoming slightly more annoying.

Honestly, I would say you definitely might be. But I understand the wanderlust. It will be freeing at the beginning, but that life won't be there when you come back, and even if it is, the love won't be the same because _you left_. You left. An innocence the relationship had is lost. You will now change in different ways from one another. And you will now each tell yourselves stories about the other that don't match up.

Some advice is that you have to decide to stop loving your partner now. If you leave, what you've left is gone. Forever. You can't have it back. You don't get to have your cake and eat it too. You left. It's over. If you meet someone else, don't list the ways in which your connection with them isn't as ineffably beautiful as what you had, because the world outside of relationships hardens people. You may never have that feeling of home back in your life.

To be in a relationship is to deny the world. You chose the world. Own it, accept it. You were not fit for a relationship.

For the record, the template is there because it works. Life can go sideways more than you'd imagine is possible. It can obviously be a great decision you'll look back on as being a great decision. But you've tossed away something precious. You don't get to do that scot-free. You're different a person now.

Maybe something like "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde? Something that rattles the foundations of life in a playful, unexpected way.