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"  Thanks to Valentine&amp;#039;s Day, you&amp;#039;ve no doubt been flooded with reminders that everyone is celebrating how close and cozy, warm and fuzzy we feel with our incredible, life-affirming other-half-slash-soul-mate.  Not ringing a bell? Don&amp;#039;t sweat it. According to a new study, it&amp;#039;s actually okay to not feel super-duper close to your guy sometimes. Seriously. Researchers at Columbia University found that a good relationship depends not on how close you feel, but more on whether or not you are as close as you want to be\u2014even if that&amp;#039;s really not close at all.  Still following? In the study, researchers asked people to rate how close they felt to their partners, and then compared that to how close they&amp;#039;d like to be. Scientists concluded that the degree of difference between a person&amp;#039;s actual and ideal level of closeness\u2014called their &amp;quot;closeness discrepancy&amp;quot;\u2014was actually what signaled poor relationship quality and symptoms of depression, not a couple&amp;#039;s degree of closeness in and of itself.  Because, come on, some people really don&amp;#039;t want snuggle up every second and share all of their deep dark feelings with their partner. (Confession: I am not one of those people.) Everyone has different emotional needs in a relationship and sometimes our romantic partner isn&amp;#039;t necessarily the best person to fulfill each and every one of them. (Hence why it&amp;#039;s super important to keep up close relationships with girlfriends and family members so you&amp;#039;re not having to depend on your guy for all of your emotional needs.) So, if you feel emotionally distant from your S.O. for a day or a few days after seeing your bestie and her guy feed each other chocolates and worry that something&amp;#039;s wrong, it might not be that big of a deal. What&amp;#039;s important is how satisfied you are with your relationship as it is\u2014not how you think it supposedly should be.  Want more from Natasha? Follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/advice/a11736/emotional-distance-in-relationship/>