Dating and relationships have significant differences between each other.
In a relationship, you introduce your partner if required to all your friends and your circle without any hesitation. But generally the couple keeps dating very private and hesitate to publicize their bond with people. If required, they share it only with the very close people in their lives.
A lot of principles for dating and a relationship differ from each other. They are never the same.
It is not difficult for someone to know their current relationship status if they are confused due to specific differences with their partner. Also, by understanding these differences, you can get an idea to improve your relationship better if you are not dating your partner.
Dating someone has conditions and boundaries that couples build for each other. They can supposedly cross if they aren’t doing good together.
But a relationship has certain boundaries which let you cross every border to have each other in their lives.
Relationships are full of unconditional love (which does not exist in reality), whereas dating is primarily out of attraction where two people decide to stay together to fulfill each other’s desires.
Let us now talk about certain boundaries that define if you are dating someone or having a relationship with someone.
The 5 elements that decide whether you are in dating or relationship with your partner:
- Priority.
- Commitment.
- Communication.
- Mutual understanding.
- Expectation.
#1. Priority
In a relationship, the supreme priority in your life will be your partner. All the importance you have in your life goes to your partner and then to your friends, family, and career.
If an event happens in your life, your partner is the first person you want to tell it to or share it with.
The level of importance people have as couples in a relationship is remarkable.
You don’t have to make a list of things you want to tell your partner about. In fact, you tell every little thing with even small details to your partner in a relationship.
You don’t have to be giving your partner the right to know about everything happening in your life. But they already have all the rights and access to your life, to know everything without even you give it in a relationship.
This is the level of importance and priority a couple of shares in a relationship undoubtedly.
Whereas in dating, it is more evident that dating doesn’t seem so similar to the priority type as in a relationship.
If there is a situation where you get two party invites, for example, one from your friends and one from your partner, you can choose your friends over your partner. If you wish to, you can also take your partner to the party and introduce her to your friends, but it is not compulsory to do so. It is a choice if you publicly want to announce your dating to everyone or your friends.
In dating, there is no such rule that says you have to do it.
Your priority or importance can differ from others to your partner. Or you don’t even have to consider your partner as a priority in dating. There are still such possibilities.
In dating, it is not really necessary to give your partner the supreme priority.
You can decide upon what you want to tell your partner and what you don’t want to. You can keep your life and your secrets personal to yourself by not telling them to your partner.
There is no such compulsory rule that you have to give all the details in your life to your partner in dating. At the end of the day, ultimately, it is your choice if you want to share your daily details with your partner or if you don’t want to.
#2 Commitment
In relationships, commitment is one crucial asset. You don’t hesitate to give or take commitments from your partner in a relationship.
There is no such thing that you have to give commitments in a relationship. Still, at a certain point in a relationship, commitments become a necessity for certainty. Commitment is one vital thing to maintain assurance in a relationship. You cannot skip it under choice in a relationship.
Whereas in dating, there is no such word as commitment. This is one type of being together where there are no commands and no demands. You are free to be together and free to leave together.
Dating doesn’t require commitment, and all that is necessary is just having a partner without any commands or demands, just like how free birds live.
In a relationship, people commit to staying together, wanting to share their future. Dating doesn’t comprise such a thing. Dating lacks commitment.
The only commitment couples have in dating is having a dessert after dinner.
#3. Communication
Relationships work only on communication. In a relationship, you share every little detail of yourself, your life, your past, and your family with your partner. You or your partner can expect to know about every detail about your partner’s day on what they did, and how they spent their day.
You can also share about your family with your partner. You can introduce each other to your families if you expect to be together even in the future.
There is no hiding business in a relationship. You are very transparent to each other about everything without the fear of being judged by the other.
Your communication in a relationship is so strong that you can ask them to snore a little less or slowly while sleeping.
In comparison, it is not the same in dating. Dating has certain boundaries with communication.
It is never too necessary to share every tiny detail from your day. In dating you who have limited and required talks only. There is no such thing as introducing each other to family and friends.
All you discuss in dating is when to meet, where to meet, and how to meet. You don’t discuss anything personal, and talking about each other’s pasts and secrets is not compulsory.
#4. Mutual Understanding
One of the significant differences between dating and relationships is having your own idea about what the two are.
Relationships are based on trust, and mutual understandings.
It is not the same with dating. Dating is based on casualty or rather for spending time with each other. There is no specific reason for wanting love, trust, and mutual understanding in dating but is based on fulfilling each other’s desires.
#5. Expectation
One can move out of the bond without even giving any specific reason for dating. Whereas in a relationship, it is not easy to break the bond.
You cannot expect someone to stick around you or stay with you for a longer time or a lifetime in a relationship.
There are no specific grounds for expectations. All that you can expect from your partner in dating is to reach the destination on time when you both have decided to go out on a date at a specific time.
But in a relationship, you have hopes and expectations. You hope for your partner to reach certain expectations which you are expecting.
In dating, you expect anything minimal or even have zero expectations.
Whereas in a relationship, you have higher expectations. You have high hopes regarding everything from your partner to reaching up to them.
In dating, your partner doesn’t even have to reach up to your expectations, even if you happen to have any by chance.
Conclusion
So friends, with this, you must have already got an idea of what could be your status with your partner if you are confused. And my suggestion to you all is, whatever bond you share with your partner, love it and embrace it. Times never return. You need to love the moment you are in.
