Thanks! Communication is everything. That's taken me years of work. I think I've made considerable progress on it in these past few decades but I still have more work to do.
I think my two biggest things would be take your time and don't settle.
100% yes that statement! I think sometimes people seek out relationships mainly because they don't want to be or are afraid of being alone. I think everyone should have a period in their lives where they get comfortable alone, with their own company. I had almost three solid years of single life in my early twenties and, looking back, it was very valuable.
I had two longer term relationships that didn't work out and I feel like it was so much wasted time because I settled and I shouldn't have. As you said, that time would have been much better spent alone although I do have some good memories and experiences from those years. It ultimately made me a better person, but looking back I can see a bit of the futility in it all.
Yeah, I think we're all guilty of seeing people and situations as we wish them to be instead of how they really are. I certainly did my fair share of that.