Dating someone you love can be intriguing, but what do you think about dating your friend? Is it possible to leave a friendzone or is it something dangerous? Unfortunately, there are many people adoring someone who cannot become their halves, and thus, friendship may not go against the borders of friendzone. However, it’s not rare to come across people who have been friends for a long time and now are a loving couple. It means being a friend may lead to a more serious relationship. Thus, it’s not surprising that you can find some friendship dating sites, where instead of simple flirting, you can find someone for friendship.
Online dating has opened new opportunities where you can be as open as you want, and don’t forget that people are not always in search of someone to love. For some people, it’s more important to find a person they can trust. Even now, among teens, it’s quite popular to find a friend online instead of someone they can love or flirt with. A friend online is a friend indeed, and this is quite relevant nowadays. Now it’s time to delve into how someone can become more than a friend, and if it’s possible why it’s worth trying.
Friendship and dating: correlation that is important to know
Friendship & dating? Which one is more preferred? Actually, they are both interconnected and interdependent. If you look deeper into the relationship types, you can see many common things. For example, you spend a long time together. You can get to know friends of each other. There are so many things in common, and thus, for some people, building a friendship before dating seems quite a practical solution.
It’s important for a longer relationship
The practical side of friendship before dating is that such an approach can ensure a much longer relationship. Friends, especially closer ones, tend to know each other better than anyone else, and this may contribute to a greater and stronger bond. That’s why some experts claim that relationships stemming from great and long friendships tend to last long, at least longer than other types of relationships.
Dating can be a reason for friendship
Another interesting correlation between friendship and dating is that while dating online, people can find real friends. This is something different from a previously mentioned correlation. To exemplify, some people start dating, but they don’t get what they want or fail to love each other. However, they don’t break up with scandals, rows, and heartbreaking words. Instead, they decide to become good friends. In short, it happens sometimes that dating itself may bring about good friendship. So, even on standard dating sites, you can simply make good friends.
Friendship is parallel to romantic bonds
Where or what is the line that separates the romantic and friendship bonds? Can someone clearly differentiate when someone flirts or just says kind words? Where is the emotional support given by a friend or lover? Thus, according to some relationship experts, friendship always goes with romantic bonds, and this line separating them can be too easy to break. However, the main problem is people’s attitude as some may not be ready to accept their friends as their lovers, which leads to disappointment. Both in friendship and dating, things can become even more complicated.
Friendship dating: what is friend with benefits
Another curious phenomenon of this century is known as a friend with benefits. It’s a type of friendship that allows intimate closeness without emotional bonds. So, as a friend, you are ready to indulge in intimate closeness, but that is not called a relationship. It’s just mutual satisfaction that doesn’t go beyond mere friendship. Of course, such a notion divides people into two groups, where one is totally against such a trend thinking that this ruins the core idea of friendship. For others, such a type of friendship is without boundaries claiming that friendship isn’t only about emotional support, but about physical relief as well.
Time to look at the pros of being a friend with benefits:
- spend great and passionate time: intimacy with someone you know is an even more pleasant and incredible experience. People live in worlds where physical satisfaction is quite separate from emotional, and according to them, physical pleasure doesn’t necessarily cause emotional bonds or attraction. So, friends with benefits are really beneficial when it comes to having the time of pleasure.
- no restraints to worry about: after intimacy, the friendship simply continues without any restraints. No problems to think about as what is done is to be forgotten so that it can be repeated once more. Thus, such a relationship doesn’t have any boundaries but only closeness. It’s hard to believe that friends can have sexual affairs, but this is a century of new relationships.
- a chance for a relationship: interestingly, in some cases, it can happen that emotional attraction takes over. People who are supposedly friends want to become even much closer. Such tendency is observed when friends with benefits become physically closer quite often, leading to addiction to each other. That would signal that it’s high time to be together as there’s nothing to hinder that.
- confidence booster: those having relationships with their best friends tend to boost their confidence. It’s just an intimate closeness satisfaction, but it’s about spending a night with someone closer, which gives more confidence.
- no commitment required: if you are not into having a relationship, then there are no problems since friends with benefits ideally don’t require any devotion and commitment. In some cases, it is about spending one or two nights together, whereas in some radical cases, such a relationship becomes quite frequent. Actually, this may lead to a more serious relationship rather than a mere friendship.
Here are some cons to know:
- jealousy may happen: of course, it may seem that friends with benefits can be great to have, but not everything is that simple. It’s not like friendship speed dating where you can find a random friend that one day may become your lover. Sometimes, people can stay friends, where one can be jealous when they are not together anymore.
- it can be addictive: becoming addictive isn’t just about having regular sex, but it’s more about the desire to be with that friend. The problem becomes evident when such feelings aren’t mutual. In many cases, intimacy happening between friends is spontaneous and may happen several times, but for some, it can be an addiction that will be hard to overcome.
- it can break your heart: love doesn’t have a formula and may come uninvited. While being close to someone may not mean that you are in love with that person, love can knock at the door out of sudden, and when such a feeling is not mutual, it will result in a broken heart.
Friendship dating: being a friend before dating
Friendship dating cannot be considered something new, as, since ancient times, you can see and read the real examples where love begins to get stronger after friendship. Thus, building a friendship before dating can be a good start. Here are some advantages of friendship before dating:
- you get to know each other from a different perspective: after you decide to move on with a serious relationship, you start discovering your beloved one from a different and unique angle. You get to know new sides that are really exciting.
- you already know the caprices and peculiarities of your partner: friendship-based love is a unique approach as you don’t spend time discovering everything from scratch. You already know the person’s main caprices and attitudes. You know when that person is sad or happy, and what you need to make them happier.
- you already have common friends: you won’t spend time meeting their friends. No need to create and adjust to new companies since almost nothing changes at all. You just continue what has been created for a long time but from a bit of a different perspective. Thus, you won’t have challenges like meeting new friends.
- you can feel less awkward with the family of your partner: meeting her family won’t be a problem either. Since you know your partner better, no need to worry about the family members as almost everyone knows you.
- you have a long story of the relationship already: friendship by itself is a relationship, and thus, starting a new relationship isn’t something challenging because you won’t be discovering too many new things. Thus, you have higher chances of making such a relationship last even longer.
Bottom line
Friendship dating can become even trendier than now as more and more, people understand why friendship is critical. Thus, for some people, building a friendship before dating is the best way to create stronger and longer bonds.