Great Read for those that think love should just be easy, and not a reality.

" If you’ve stuck it out through the tough times of stage three, you will be rewarded. You and your partner have fallen from the pedestals that you placed each other on. You become real people, not gods descended from Mount Olympus. All veils are stripped away. You acknowledge that your partner has dreams and also problems, just like you. Stage three let you see the frustrations in your relationship. Stage four allows you to accept them and work through them"  

Check out the read/link below. Where do you fit in? Do you check out when reality hits? When you realize your partner is not perfect, yet fail to acknowledge your own contribution? I'm fully aware of realistic expectations, and baggage, and imperfections. I've always been someone that is aware of them both in myself and my partner and talks about them, and loves you right on through them as long as you recognize them too. Not if you avoid and quit.   When I first met my ex I told her I have anxiety and some trust issues from past relationships, but once I get comfortable and feel safe those fall away. She said she understood and that she didn't care, that none of my imperfections could push her away. I sit here and I think really hard about if she ever said to me something similar:  " I'm passive, I let others walk over me, I suck at communicating especially when overwhelmed, I sometimes lie because I'm afraid to speak up, I overcommit, I say things just to say them"  and I can't remember her ever acknowledging anything about herself like that. Every "thing" had some excuse, oh I just married him for medical, or I know she upset me but "I'll talk to her later about it"  but later never came. It takes a strong person to say out loud, I have these flaws and I am aware of them and here person "I think I love"---let me show them to you before you get one step closer to me. That is raw, that is real. 

People check out on stage three because they don't want to face themselves, or do any work to get to the bliss of stage 4. That's not love, that's Lust. You just want until it requires looking deeper within, a little elbow grease.   And when that time comes your words and promises jump out the window and down the fire escape.  

http://www.lifehack.org/535718/there-are-5-stages-love-but-sadly-many-couples-stop-stage-3?dgs=1