Figuring out whether you love somebody can be tough in this world of modern dating. Things are certainly more complicated than back in the day, when you’d be chaperoned on a few dates before walking down the aisle within a year. Courtship was a whole lot simpler and required far less examination. Now there’s a new set of rules, but they’re not exactly written down for everyone to make use of. We’ll try to distill it all for you here…
How Do You Know When Your Relationship Has Progressed?
There are some obvious progress points in the path to love. First, you see your potential lover from across the bar. Or maybe you’ve been impressed by their photos on a dating app. Second, you go on a few dates and start getting to know each other. At this stage, it’s all very low commitment and generally quite fun. The next stage is when it gets confusing.
The Dating Game
There’s a point in the dating process where it will stop feeling like a series of job interviews with wine and start feeling a little more serious. You actually start imagining yourself long-term with this person and it seems so right. You can’t wait for them to text you – so much so that you’ll check your phone at least once a minute.
Going Steady
Finally, things have moved on even further and you’ve had the “let’s be exclusive” chat. You’ve deactivated your online dating profiles and consider your status to be ‘in a relationship’. You see each other all the time and you’ve met each other’s families. Does this mean you’re in love now? It’s a little more complicated than that…