Let me preface this by saying I am not an expert by any means, this is simply my worldview that I would like to share and see what people, perhaps people who ARE experts, or who perhaps have more expertise and knowledge than I, to respond to.

I am a 19 year old guy who grew up as an only child in a household where my parents were older (my mother is in her mid 50s and my father in his early 60s as of now) and perhaps initially just felt no love for each other, but in more recent years grew to outright hate each other but have not divorced or separated in any way other than sleeping in separate rooms. Both of my parents were poor growing up, but have both managed to work themselves into the middle or upper middle class. My parents (mostly my mother as my father isn't a very active parent) always stressed to me the importance of school and/or work coming before everything else, and I mean everything without exaggeration. Now I wouldn't call myself a hopeless romantic but I have always had a very strong desire for a committed intimate relationship. And my parents always scolded me for taking my relationships so seriously at such a young age. But through my parents past and I suppose the environment I grew up in, I learned to think differently. One of the major turning points in the development of my worldview was the death of my grandmother. I saw her in the hospital the day before she died, eyes glazed over, mouth open gasping for each breath, but when she went she was surrounded by my cousins whom she raised, my two uncles and my mother. And I thought, is that not all we can ask for with death as the only certainty in life? That was we pass we may be surrounded by those we love. Because of course, getting an education and a job is important, but if we forsake forming bonds in order to focus entirely on getting ahead in life, when we finally achieve that goal, how much time will be left? Would you have to desperately rush into a relationship as my parents did when you realize there is a such thing as too late? Or should you simply hope that when the end comes being surrounded by all of your trophies will be of some comfort?