It’s been a long time since I wrote Part 1.
But has anything much changed since then?
Not on the way I approach my relationship life.
How right all this is has only gotten clearer to me.
One thing that has changed though is I keep getting backed up by science. A recent article called This Is How Friendships Turn Into Love once again shows you Romantic Friendships are the real deal.
What is the author telling you?
Focusing on friendship will only help you.
Friendship is an “incredibly healthy part” of what?
“Any long-term connection” you choose.
It turns how that “nurtuting friendship with a new acquaintance could be a great way to find love” after all. Who would have thought of devoting “friend-related energy to a relationship that you really want to be a romance?”
As it turns out though?
Friendship can “make or break” a romantic connection.
What is your relationship quality proportional to?
How much you “value your romantic partner as” your friend.
Not only is the level of commitment and love related to this idea of friendship. Even couples who “directly prioritize…sexual needs” end up less sexually satisfied than those who value each other as friends first.
Another thing friendship guards against?
Relationship dissolution.
When your romantic partner is your friend as well?
You want to keep the connection going between the two of you!
This article is so good on all this it even recognizes the “cart before the horse” I always talk about regarding attraction. If you’re “having trouble deciding if someone’s flirting” or not you should “consider beginning by investing in the friendship” first anyway.
“More interaction and time spent together?”
You’ll “discover shared interests, goals, or hobbies.”
And if you share romantic feelings between the two of you?
Starting with friendship gives you “more space for acting” on them.
“If the potential for a romantic relationship is there, your initial efforts to value the friendship in that relationship can actually promote its long-term stability and health.”
So what do you think now?
Don’t Romantic Friendships make the most sense?
Is it true love and friendship just don’t mix?
Or is friendship actually the right foundation for love?
What do you say? Is it so crazy to believe that two people who start out as friends can become lovers or is it just the modern dating scene that’s got everything in reverse?
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