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In my personal experience (which has run both ends of the spectrum, from insane what was I doing to hey I have my love stuff together!) I have learned one thing, there is no perfection. There is no standard, no ideal, and no repeatable experiences. Each one is unique, each one teaches us something, and most are worth having. The ones that are harmful can still yield positives, but I can't bring myself to say they were worth having. And this is from someone who got her son out of one, it's complicated in my head sometimes. I think in a lot of cases that one of our great societal problems is the concepts of short versus long term relationships in the first place, that one is 'good' and one is 'bad'. You are asking yourself if you are selling yourself short by considering this, which indicates to me you have some lingering unresolved internal conflict with the choice that you need to resolve inside before you embark both for your sake and your partners. If you aren't going into this openly without dealing with that feeling, it has a real potential to eat at you and the relationship. Or I'm over reading into your post. Also, realistically, no one can tell if a relationship is going to be long or short. Unless we want to go back to the random lottery of arranged partnerships, the whole reason we date at all is to explore and analyze the potential. I've seen people stay in ridiculous relationships because they have some sort of weird concept of 'wasted time' or 'refusal to fail' instead of realizing they're continuing to waste time in a relationship that is failing them . I have no idea where this behavior comes from, but it seems unhealthy and pointless to me. On your con list, several of them are unrealistic cons. NO ONE isn't gassy, literally no one. It's a byproduct of human digestion, we all area. Live-together couples deal with it. Just we have this weird social taboo so no one realizes how bad it is for everyone, and things they are somehow weird or unpleasant to be around. No ones bathroom products smell good either. You just deal with the little inconveniences of life when living with someone. Nikki is awful in both those, wouldn't give my Nikki up, I just open the window a lot after one of us has been in there. ​ Some Febreeze helps too. Most people are more set in their ways than we realize, compromise is not an innate talent it's a learned skill, and there is nothing wrong with trying to find someone with a similar set of ways to reduce the amount of compromise. The allergies and finances are more 'real' hurdles vs. feelings you have about yourself that make you hesitant in my opinion, and the best advice I can give for that is be open and upfront if you hit the point where short term may look different. WEll, maybe prior to the first date with the allergy part, but the finances can wait. But ​health issues that can trigger on a date such as cat lady covered in cat hair at the date could be an issue. But I clearly hear your desire to retain independence. But I do ask have you spoken with someone in your disability office to ask how a marriage would affect that? I know a lot of people on various disability who are married, but I'm not up on the laws. I am NOT trying to force you to change your feelings on anything, just giving my honest take on the list that you can do what you want with my thoughts. No ​one has to be permacoupled to be happy, but some of that really is normal for the course and not a barrier and I just wanted to be clear. Short term relationships aren't bad. There is nothing wrong with enjoying them, and getting to repeatedly enjoy the thrills and highs of new people and relationships. Society frowned on it for a long time because it didn't fit with the model of what they wanted, but monogamy is a social training in us, not a natural evolved instinct. It was a solution to various issues over history, and remains in place as a tradition, but the only way to be 'wrong' in choosing to have several relationships over time (or even at the same time) is when lying is involved to the partners. You are settled, in a good place in your life, and just want some companionship/romance, enjoy all the short term relationships you want. LIfe is too short not to enjoy things. And if you find it's not your cup of tea after you've tried it, then you can always re-evaluate your choices and options after. You won't know if it fulfills the niche in your life or makes it worse until you start exploring. Go for it, see how it works for you. You can stop at any time if it's not, you're not selling yourself short at all, and it's always better to try for happiness and it not go right than to not try at all.