This Is What No One Tells You About Being The ‘Power Couple’

The one thing we never knew about being a power couple is that it will leave us powerless when it’s over.

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couple leaning on guard rail while holdings hands facing ocean at daytime
Justin Groep / Unsplash

Sure, you enjoyed your 15 minutes of stardom. You definitely enjoyed being the relationship goals of everyone who knew you.

Both of you didn’t know what it was like walking into a room without everyone watching your every move. This was the norm for you.

You attracted people’s drive back home conversations. People’s morning small talk.

That’s the kind of couple you were. Some talk was good, mostly it was bad because being despised is no different than being admired in such situations.

When people can’t get something, they want they end up either striving to get it or bashing it in hopes they’ll one day believe they never wanted it.

But see there’s a problem with being a power couple. They’re made of mirrors. They show people what they lack in their own relationship and they show them what they’re wishing for.

The one thing they don’t show is the truth about themselves.

They’re probably full of issues pending to be solved just like everyone else but their façade has become so strong that they almost seem untouchable.

Most of the time, it’s not sustainable to have such a connection with someone.

Two powerful people can’t be powerful all the time, at the same time.

One person is always compromising. But that’s what people don’t see when the show is on.

The backstage, however, proves to be a whole different story.

See, I could go on forever talking about this hypothetical power couple like it were some generalized notion or recurrent phenomenon. But it’s not.

Each experience is unique, and all I truly feel like talking about at this moment is our very own understanding of it.

So, here’s to the water to my fire. The spring to my summer. The science to my philosophy. The rational to my emotional. The numbers to my words.

To my inner contradictions, to my external masquerades.

Yes, it was exciting meeting you at every level: intellectually, emotionally and socially.

No, it wasn’t easy to avoid competing all the time. Sometimes it proved to bring the best out of us and sometimes it brought out the worst.

We poured all our strengths into what we had, and we downplayed our weakness – until they finally caught up with us.

Both of us possessed the instant power to build each other up or tear each other down.

It was a gamble of self-esteems. A war of egos.

But on the outside, we were shiny. No one could see the scratches – until they finally did and we came crashing down into a million irreparable pieces.

No one ever measures up because it’s already a great deal of effort and luck to make one person stand out. Now try syncing the glory of two people ambitiously striving to merge into one.

We talked about it occasionally. Spoke of its grandness. Shared the joint vision of what came to be our pride and joy.

Yet we lost it as quickly as we gained it.

We also heard them speak of what it looked like – wildfire spreading at unprecedented speed, an explosion of two stars, a majestic waterfall pouring into a calm river.

But we had trouble believing it. How were we to believe the immaculate beauty of something when we worked so hard to shun it flaws undercover?

They told us great things about being a power couple. Living off each other’s ambitions and dreams.

They told us great things about being a power couple. Making love look as seamless as an inhale-exhale.

They told us great things about being a power couple. The mentally challenging conversation that always makes dinner a couple of hours longer.

They told us great things about being a power couple. The depth of a connection held by a single thread tugging between two stubborn minds.

They told us great things about being a power couple. The power.

But they never told us what happens when it’s all over.

The one thing we never knew about being a power couple is that it will leave us powerless when it’s over. TC mark