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Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence. Having a romantic partner who is also your best friend potentially sounds perfect.
With your BFF as your romantic partner, you get the best of both worlds, someone with whom you can laugh, share your life and cuddle. When you look at seemingly happy celebrity couples like Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, or Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow, not only do they appear to be in love, but they also seem to genuinely enjoy hanging out together.
How many people feel as though they have attained that type of ideal?
And do psychologists confirm this new paradigm is a good one to strive for? I enlisted the help of Monmouth University Polling Institute to investigate. To help figure out how many best-friend couples are out there, we asked adults across the United States the following question: Among adults currently in a romantic relationship, the vast majority 83 percent considered their current partner to be their best friend.
For those who are currently married, the rate was even higher. Men and women had similar rates, while younger respondents were slightly less likely than older respondents to view their partner as their best friend. The overall numbers from this recent poll dwarf the earlier reported rate of best-friend romantic partners. In a study, only 44 percent of college students indicated their romantic partner was also their best bud.
But expectations for modern relationships have evolved in the intervening years. We hold our relationships to higher standards than we have in previous decades. In particular, couples now expect their relationships to promote personal growth and help individuals fulfill their own goals. For example, your partner should help you become a better person by teaching you new things like how to make the perfect creme brulee, taking you places like the cool new trampoline park and opening your eyes to new perspectives such as the benefits of eating a more vegetarian-based diet.
These four principles will help you protect your friendships and make dating more fun. Sometimes you know after a few dates that a person isn't for you, and Not only that, being friends with someone you are physically. If you need to talk about a few more things before you can be friends, have a discussion with your ex about any loose ends a few weeks after you break up.
Although this expectation for growth could conceivably place an unwieldy burden on your relationship, researchers believe that modern relationships are up to the task. In fact, the idea that a relationship can help an individual become a better person, a phenomenon that researchers call self-expansion , is a useful one; relationships that provide more expansion are also of higher quality.
One thing that made it easier was the fact that they agreed breaking up was the right decision for both of them at the time. That allowed them to slowly start becoming friends again, with Jemima later inviting Timothy over to have a beer and help fix her kitchen cart.
Timothy needed to see other people I needed more commitment, and wasn't willing to change that or try to convince him to stay with me. In the end, the varying testimonies of these couples prove that the ability to stay friends in the aftermath of a failed relationship depends on the circumstances.
Sometimes, it's possible to become friends with an ex after a breakup. Other times, a clean, never-see-each-other-again break is absolutely necessary for both parties. With a combination of time apart, an amicable split and a brief social media vacation, couples can figure out how to make it work.
If all of these pieces fall into place, a gradual transition to friendship can be exactly what both parties need to move on in a way that feels authentic to the relationship. No matter how acrimonious the breakup or how gut-wrenching the process of mending a broken heart is, most exes probably feel the same way. Related stories by this author.
Most recent Hotel, hostel or airbnb? How to choose the right lodging option for you. Does it seem like there's still something more between the two of you? Make plans for a few weeks down the road. If you do indeed both want to be friends at this point, you can start making plans to hang out in the future. However, you want to maintain some space between the two of you so as not to fall into old relationship patterns.
You aren't a couple anymore so you shouldn't behave like it or that will just confuse things. Stay in close touch with your feelings. Hanging out with your ex again is bound to stir up feelings - especially when complicated changes come up like when one of you starts getting serious about someone else. The important thing here is to take the time that you need at each step to get back in touch with your feelings and to deal with them so that your friendship can remain strong. Be there for each other. Good friends are there for each other when one needs something.
There's no reason that you can't be there for each other once you've decided to be friends again. This article was written by a professional writer, copy edited and fact checked through a multi-point auditing system, in efforts to ensure our readers only receive the best information. To submit your questions or ideas, or to simply learn more, see our about us page: Stay Friends After a Breakup. Meet Singles in your Area! Articulate your desire to be friends and what this means to you. Things You Will Need A relationship that's ending. Tips You may want to work with a counselor or other healing professional as you make this transition.
Be kind to yourself. Relationship issues are draining and this is really a tough one.
Be sure to take care of yourself. Warnings Be aware that the transition from being in a relationship to being friends is going to take a lot of time and hard work. Expect it to be several weeks for a short relationship and months or even years for a long term relationship.