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6 Tips To Keep In Mind When Dating Your Best Friend
By: Neha Fri, 13 Jan 2023 4:36:25
How does getting into a relationship with best friend feel, you may ask. Falling in love with your best guy friend or girl friend can be a little unnerving. You may spend a lot of time confused about your feelings. Once you accept your changing feelings toward them, comes the part where you endlessly wonder if your best friend is in love with you too.
Did they just agree to this because you two get along so well? Is s/he only in it because they’re settling? Needless to say, getting used to being in a relationship with your best friend isn’t the most straightforward journey. You will have to figure out how to date your best friend without ruining the friendship and that is exactly why we are here.
# Don’t rush things
Trying to understand how to date your best friend? Well, you are still figuring out your feelings and your way around the relationship in the beginning. You’ve said yes but you need to accustom yourself to the “boy” or “girl” replacing the “best” before the “friend”, which is why we think you should not rush it when you are dating your best friend. Take it slow. Baby steps, my friend.
Jumping the gun or rushing into things is not a good idea when you have just begun dating your best friend. One partner may feel comfortable taking a step further but the other might not be, which is why taking it slow initially is of utmost importance. If something goes wrong, you might lose your best friend. If you rush things in an attempt to achieve a partner in your best friend, there is a chance that you might lose them forever.
# Manage your expectations
One of the most important rules for dating best friend is to lay the groundwork for expectations. Figure out what you expect from your partner and communicate the same to them. Ask them what they expect from you in the relationship. You might have already had conversations about past relationship experiences, expectations from a partner, and how you perceive them to be in the coming future. Knowing each other’s expectations will help you build a healthy relationship with your best friend.
When you are dating your best girl friend or guy friend, you expect more from them than from a regular relationship. You expect them to know you from inside out and thus not hurt you. You need to understand that nobody is perfect, not even your best friend. They will make mistakes and there will be times when all will not be rainbows and roses. Fights, hurt, and are a part of the package in every relationship, even one with your best friend.
# Rules for dating best friend – Be honest
What is the best thing about dating your best friend? The best thing about falling in love with your best guy friend or being in a relationship with your best girl friend is that you can be open and honest with them about your feelings. This person knows the real you, which is exactly why you don’t need to pretend to be someone else or hide your true self and emotions from them.
How to date your best friend? Namrata suggests being honest about your feelings with your partner. No matter how bad it is, you will always get a hug from the other end. This is one of the perks of dating your best friend. Unlike other relationships, where both partners spend the honeymoon phase putting their best foot forward and being on their best behavior, when starting a relationship with your best friend, you can just be yourself. They probably know more about you than any other person on this earth does.
# Know the stakes
Always remember the fact that you are dating your best friend. If either of you messes up, you’ll be losing both your best friend and your partner, and you can imagine how painful that can be. That means double the heartbreak and dealing with the excruciating pain of losing one of the most important people in your life.
Being in a relationship with your best friend means putting the most solid and important friendship of your life on the line. If things don’t pan out between the two of you romantically, you cannot just go back to being best friends again. The angst and unpleasantness of a relationship gone wrong will damage your bond. Always keep this in mind when you are in a relationship with best friend.
# Listen to yourself
Never pressurize yourself in your relationship. At times, people try to be hard on themselves to make their best friend, now partner, happy because they don’t want to lose them. They start sacrificing too much of themselves to keep the relationship going. In the process, they hurt themselves, their partner, and the relationship.
I had a friend who was still transitioning from best friends into the boyfriend stage. When her boyfriend kissed her, she freaked out. She wasn’t comfortable but didn’t tell her boyfriend. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and broke up with him. She still wishes that she had listened to herself and told her boyfriend that she wasn’t comfortable. Things would have been way different.
# Plan romantic dates
Movie nights are great, but it’s now time to take it a step further. You two are no longer just friends. You two need to start doing things that couples normally do. Creating some spark is the key to being romantic with your best friend. Plan a candlelight dinner or a romantic terrace date. It may be a cliché, but isn’t the idea of dating your best friend too? These romantic dates will help bring you both closer as partners and make being in a relationship with your best friend more effortless.
The romantic things you do as a couple don’t always have to be sexual or culminate in sex. Look at these dates as an opportunity to build emotional intimacy in your newfound relationship with best friend, taking your bond beyond the realm of friendly bonhomie. When you’re dating a best friend, it may feel awkward to do the lovey-dovey things at the beginning. As you both grow more comfortable with the idea of expressing your love, you’ll also be making sure you grow emotionally more attached.