In preparation for Valentine’s Day, my latest for TNGG, as originally posted here…

Girl: A business woman working her way up the corporate ladder who comes from a huge Irish-Catholic family. Loves art. Country music fiend. Passionate New York sports fan. Addicted to technology and social media. Wine connoisseur. Social butterfly who feels at home at the bar. Enjoys curling up with a good book by the fire.

Boy: Tradesman who comes from a small family. Enjoys rock music. Gets a thrill from outdoor extreme sports. Doesn’t watch or follow organized sports. Doesn’t believe in social media and dislikes that people put their whole lives on the web. Introvert who enjoys hanging out with only his few close friends. Enjoys PBR and sleeping outdoors.

Back in science class (yes, the same one that taught us Pluto was a planet), we were taught that opposite ends of magnets attract. Magnets aren’t the only opposites that attract — there is a truth to the age-old love adage that opposites attract. None of us want to date a mirror image of ourselves, that would be boring (not to mention creepy if you were dating your identical twin…). But seriously, when we are dating, we crave someone different than we are. We need someone to balance out with our craziness, someone to taking our minds off the stresses from work, someone to challenge us, someone to make us better — someone who complements us.

Granted while dating someone, you are learning about someone new, but at the same time, you are really learning about yourself. Dating someone different can open new doors — when you date someone who has different interests than you, you will inevitably try new things, and hopefully, you like these new things.

While dating someone who is your opposite can open doors to worlds we never knew much about, it can also open doors to “whatever quality or character trait you lack and wish you had”. MTV’s show Made depicts people who live a life they enjoy, but deep down, they are really in search of trying something new. Perhaps this is why “good girls” are attracted to “bad boys;” they see a thrill in living on the edge, but it’s not something they’d dare do on their own. By dating the “bad boy,” she is exposed to the world that always seemed to elude her, giving her a fresh breath of energy and a youthful feeling.

Dating your opposite can do more than just open doors to experiencing new things. It can give a fresh perspective on how to view the world and deal with problems. You may start looking at situations from a different perspective, which allows you to find better outcomes or faster ways to solve problems. Or perhaps in explaining your frustrations, you will be given new insights into how to overcome them.

Opposites pose challenges, but overcoming challenges only make us grow and become stronger. A type-A person can learn to let go and be more laid back or someone lacking drive can learn to set goals and start working on achieving them. It is from those who pose challenges to us that we will learn the most valuable life lessons, and hopefully even find love.

One thing I’ve learned from dating someone different is that as much as I’m addicted to updating my Facebook status and checking in on Foursquare to let the “twitterverse” know where I am, there’s something to be said about spending a weekend disconnected from that world, enjoying nature and the boy that I’m falling head over heels for.