Why You Should Put Off the Relationship Talk | Love & Sex | GalTime

When should you have the relationship talk? Maybe never.

So you're wondering what's going on between you and the person you're dating. You want to know what the?deal?is. Where things?stand. You think it's time to have the conversation.

Don't do it. In fact, delay that conversation as long as you possibly can, maybe indefinitely. Why? Because the first person who brings it up loses.

The need to "have the talk" may seem all mature and adult, but really, it's just you scratching an insecure itch. You need "to know." I counter with this: If you're having a fun, great, sexy time, why, oh, why would you drop those dreaded words, "Where is this going?" It's the relationship equivalent of walking into the middle of a great party, turning off the music, flipping on all the lights, and saying, "So, I just want to check. Is everyone having a good time?"

I did this a few years back. I regret it and would never do it now. I had been seeing the guy a few weeks. He was a bit of a tough read, and I got insecure. I thought I?d help things along or feel better by asking, ?So, what is the deal--I mean, are we seeing other people, or?? It was a moment of weakness. Big mistake. The whole tenuous, if promising, thing collapsed on itself a short while later. And while that wasn't the only reason, I sped it to its short and brutish end. Like driving into a wall at 60 mph.

I've also been on the other side, by the way, many times. I gently tried to back off this very conversation with partners because it felt like I was being asked to make a decision I wasn't ready to make. I felt pressured to say what I think he wanted to hear and, if that's your idea of honesty, well, it's not. I've often found myself marking time FROM THIS TALK, wondering who would be the one to bail out first. Why create this pressure when you're really trying to get to know someone? Keep it a little gray--a little mysterious. This is how you keep that intrigue alive.

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Ask yourself this: Why do I need to ask? What do I really want to know? What do I hope to accomplish??And while I can?t purport to read your mind, I?ll assume you?re craving what most humans do: significance and security. You want to know what?s going on, not because you?re conducting an investigation, but because you want to assuage the nagging fear and be reassured that you are special. You already are--can't you tell??Nothing?is totally secure in love and life, and no one owes you a sense of security.

And if your reason is that you're afraid he'll meet someone else? He could meet someone else regardless. There's always that risk. What would happen if you held off on the grand summit meeting and just enjoyed the person without worrying about how to categorize or title or otherwise claim him? You get the best of both of you--and your own privacy, too.

"But I want us to be honest with each other!", you cry. You can and should be open and communicative, yes. But unless you're about to close on a house together or do something else that's legally binding (like marriage), there's nothing to be gained by this conversation. What you want is to have him (or her) keep showing up. Now's not the time to ask him to sign the paperwork so you can issue him an official badge. He doesn't need one.

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Also: Don't confuse honesty with security. You think that if you know more about what's going on under the hood you'll feel better, but that may not be the case.?Do you really want to know he likes you a lot but is getting over a crush from last summer, or that his ex-girlfriend has been calling again? Does he want to know you're sort of weaning off this other guy? No, no, and no. Not your biz, not his problem. It doesn't matter. What matters is that you keep choosing to spend time with and enjoy each other. It's the actions that matter, not the?definition?of those actions. You don't have to kick the tires every two seconds. Just?drive.

Oh--and screw your Facebook status. Honestly. If you're making relationship decisions so you can click a box, I fear for your future. Because checking a box has driven more than one person into relationships--and marriages--that shouldn't have happened. Labeling your life isn't the same as living it.

Case in point: A client of mine has kindled a connection with a man who lives states away, and a good chunk of the year overseas. She wants to know if he?s her boyfriend or if he could be, and worries that by not nailing it down that she?s succumbing to game playing. I tell her, in fact, she?s not a pawn in some game; she?s very much in control of her actions. And yes, it?is?a game?and the goal is to?keep the ball in play.?You do this by maintaining a rich and vital connection, staying in touch and letting that person know you?re very much interested. As soon as she tries to get him to submit to certain rules or titles, I warned her she?ll scare him away, and he?s already far away.

Let's get one thing straight: That discomfort you feel? That excitement? It exists due to the simple fact that things are NOT SET YET. Enjoy it. Don't suck the life out of it in an effort to make it shelf stable. If you're still with this guy 10 years from now, there will be a point, sooner than you think, when you'll wonder where the magic went. This nervousness and thrill is par for the course?and trust me, you?ll miss it when it?s gone.

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Terri Trespicio is a lifestyle and relationship expert, writer, and coach. Visit her at www.trespicio.com.?

Source: http://galtime.com/article/love-sex/64143/52883/why-you-should-put-relationship-talk

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