Have you ever sat down and looked at your dating history and wonder why you were dating? There are many different reasons people start dating; either they are looking for a serious relationship, simple companionship, friends with benefit, or they don’t have a clear goal in mind.
Four Different Types of Dating
These will help you understand what you are looking for, even if you aren’t even sure yourself.
Type 1: Dating for Enjoyment
If you are dating with no strings attached, you’re in it to have and you aren’t interested in anything more. This is completely fine, we all need someone whose company we enjoy. There is no pressure to call and checkup because the relationship isn’t serious — you don’t have a label and there is no commitment of exclusivity.
Type 2: Dating With Purpose
When you are dating someone with the intent of learning more about one another, you are dating to see if the relationship could turn into something more. Your conversations are deeper than when you are dating for enjoyment. Topics of conversation include your life goals, your ideas of a good marriage, how many children you want, family background and stuff like that.
You may think that when you’re dating with purpose, you are already in a relationship, but dating with purpose also include blind dates, speed dating, and online dating. While these experiences don’t necessarily lead to a relationship, they let you get straight to the point and letting one another what you want for the future.
Type 3: Dating For Marriage
This type of dating is when you have the intent on deciding if you will marry the person you are seeing, or if you will break things off. This type of dating may or may not be a public affair which involves the family or community. In most cases, this type of dating requires you to be in an exclusive relationship.
If you are dating for marriage, you’ve probably introduced your partner to the important people in your life — parents, family members, spiritual advisors, and friends. There are a variety of ways that couples see if they are ready for marriage; some will go on vacations together, some will try living together, and some will even seek counselling prior to getting engaged.
Type 4: Dating After A Divorce
Sadly, not all marriages work out. When you begin dating after a failed marriage, you will problem find it a lot different than dating before you were married. Because you’ve previously committed yourself to one person and it didn’t work out, you are going to approach your next relationship with that much more diligence and patience is going to be an important factor.
When you start dating after you’ve been married, you are going to want to make sure you are on the same page as the person you’re dating. Perhaps they want to get married and you aren’t ready for that yet. You don’t want to get into a serious relationship until you are ready. By letting the other person know what you want to come out of dating, you will give them the option to stick it out or move on if your intentions don’t align with theirs.