Thank you, I really appreciate that perspective. My friends have told me something similar.

I've been trying to have self-reliance, and most of my happiness nowadays does come genuinely from myself and enjoying life in the moment—something that I forgot how to do! I relied way too much on my relationship last time to make me happy (which it didn't). Both he and I are taking things slow, which is so good because again, the last relationship moved WAYY to fast. If anything, I'm being too cautious haha.

Something else I want to be careful of is making sure I stay true to myself, not trying too hard to impress this guy. The good thing is, he makes me WANT to be myself, but of course, I still need to be careful, just as you said.