It seems that the dating world is not too much different when it comes to labels. Many people, men and women alike, become consumed with putting labels on their relationships. Dating, boyfriend, girlfriend, single, partner, it's complicated, separated, hooking up, in an open relationship, etc etc.
Social media has only made it more obvious how "important" labels are to us with the recent addition of "in a civil union" and "in a domestic partnership" to the list of 11 possible relationship statuses on Facebook.
11 different statuses? No wonder it's complicated. The sad thing is that I'm sure there are many other relationship statuses to come to Facebook. Here are some suggestions: "single, but doesn't want to admit it," "in a relationship, but wants out," "sleeping with anyone and everyone," "playing the field," "not sure."
I'm not sure why there is so much hype around labels. You're either single or not. You know whether you and another person had the conversation to not see other people. And you definitely know if the "it's not you, it's me" conversation took place too.
In my perspective, labels aren't really for the two people in the relationship. They're for everyone else in the world. Some people get nervous with the mention of a label and some people really like having them, hence the 11 options Facebook offers. And I suppose the terms "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" are simpler to say than "this is the person I'm exclusively dating."
But people put too much importance on putting a label on their relationship. Maybe it's because they want to take that person off the market or maybe because they want to ensure that person feels the same way about them. Rushing to put a label on a relationship really could make things complicated.
I'm always a fan of "seeing where it goes" and taking my time to get to know someone and let my feelings grow for them first. I don't really worry about putting a label on it, because if things are going well, I'm happy and don't think about anyone else than the time will come.
I think there's something to be said about enjoying where you are in a relationship right now rather than being worried about "what you are" with someone.
xoxo Nickie