Depends where you are in life!...It is different when you are 20 or when you are 50!Someone smart said:...What you seek it is seeking you! If you don't want someone to be around you will not find it! I belive I will meet that person who will make my skin sooooo sensitive again that I have muscle spasm just thinking about him, that I will Love to cook for, that I will Love to caress and kiss and feel that dopamine rush again....because just One can do that for me! Relationship!!!!!!
That is the only reason I will let The one in my life!

Your motorcycle.

It is different for everyone. The point being you want to share things with someone that wants to share things back. They make you feel a certain way that no one else does. Have fun together.. explore things. We are social creatures but technology is rapidly changing that possibility.

Companionship and partnership, child rearing, financial security (combining resources plus you have a buffer if one is injured) and of course human connection are typical reasons. But fuck knows killing snakes is nice when needed or allocating skills (eg car stuff versus sewing...) so that you don’t have to be a master of all things.

I want you to be there when I medically need you for support. You are my personal business partner. You are my enthusiastic lover. You are helping me do all the small things in life like dishes and wash. You look out for my best interests. You are my playmate. You are my confidant.

I just like to know the person I love is going to be there tomorrow. That's it.

left to my own devices I am a complete animal. I like having someone there that I trust and respect that can kinda, keep me in check. It's kinda hard to explain, but... I'm just a better person when theres someone I'm actually trying for. if that makes sense.

Many hands make light work . 2 heads are better than one . Need I say more

Sorry to disappoint, but from you no, I don't expect anything.

However I like your question, it is in my mind as well.
I think I want a relationship,
but am beginning to wonder if that is true anymore.
I have lady friends,
I have intimate others,
but I don't have a relationship or partner.
I am really confused.

Relationships are tricky and dicey regardless of your swing or self assuredness. I have never believed that any one person can provide every need of any other person. We all get different things from different people in our lives. Why not just admit it and have more than one person important to you in your life?

Didn't we just have this conversation? Dopamine, dopamine, dopamine!

Intimacy, loving someone and being loved by someone is the best feelings ever

I think that's the wrong way to approach a relationship. We were built to connect, at least briefly. But our psychology has developed so that we need those connections in order to produce and raise offspring and get them to their age of viability. I think first of all it's an evolutionary thing.

But so were families and tribes. That's how most species survive: herds, packs, flocks, colonies, clutches, and my personal favorite... murders.

How we express ourselves in relationships is an ongoing preposition, though, as we have the ability to think for ourselves, and awareness of our own emotional needs. But we learn through relationships. We discover who we are by seeing ourselves through other's eyes. No matter how awesome we think we are, it's in a relationship that we're going to see into our blind spots. Relationships help strengthen us when we are vulnerable. They help makeup for the areas that we lack and vice versa. Done right, they are powerful vessels to survival and happiness.

What would I like from you ScienceBiker... a cheese sandwich? I love cheese! JK. What are you able to give? Not material commodities but more of a “its you and me against the world” kinda thing. To be able to relate to your SO on much deeper level than just shared bills and responsibilities is priceless, to have each other’s best interest at heart. I’d stick with “to have and to hold”.. I don’t need Anything , but I want everything!

Most people kill loneliness by being in the relationship. That's why so many fail. An intimate partner is hypothetically "always there for you". It's a support system in financial, emotional, and physical sense. In my own definition, I would say that the person in a relationship with me is the one who "gets" me, takes me as I am. TBH, I could do without, but it's nicer when I have it. Plus, we build all kinds of relationships around us to fulfill all kinds of needs. I do perfectly fine with a couple of close friends and my family, others need tons of friends and acquaintances. it really is a mutual understanding of what the two (or three...or four) of you bring to the table. We are social creatures, nothing is really special about being in a relationship.

After the failure/end of a very long committed, monogamous relationship I am wondering the same thing. Maybe this feeling won't last but I don't think I want that kind of relationship again.

Well personally I'm giving anyone who expects me to fulfill a purpose serious side eye.

An ideal relationship IMO would be two people enjoying each other's company, supporting one another and helping each other grow.

Guys who are looking for a woman to cook, clean, make appointments and handle social events need to just hire a housekeeper. By the same token of a woman wants you around to fix stuff and handle finances, she should probably get an accountant and a handyman.

That's my take on it,anyway.