In Esther Perel’s new book, The State of Affairs, she says that the quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives. Relationships are our story. We must write well and edit often. This sounds obvious at first glance, but it’s not, or at least it wasn’t for me. I’d always assumed that relationships contributed to the quality of our lives, but not that they were the primary factor. I’d always assumed that relationships were perhaps part of our story, not the primary feature. These concepts may take me some time to unpack and absorb.