The answer is that you never, ever, rely on another person for your peace of mind...You have to - I don't know - you have to learn to live with yourself.

You have to learn to turn back your own sheets and set a table for one without feeling pathetic.

You have to be strong and confident and pleased with yourself and never give the slightest impression that you can't hack it without that certain someone. You have to fake the hell out of it.

—Armistead Maupin, More Tales of the City