What Is Commitment In A Relationship

There’s a lot of stigma thrown around the term ‘commitment’ these days. Each couple has their own way of describing commitment in their relationships.

When looking for clarity on what exactly commitment means, this fact may cause much confusion. Nevertheless, commitment in a relationship has a standard definition. It’s simple.

Here’s what the term actually means and signifies:

Exclusivity

A committed relationship is one where two individuals commit to date/see each other exclusively. You can also think of this as sexual exclusivity. This is the basic standard for commitment. However, each relationship is different as there are different individuals. Some couples remain in healthy marriages while engaging in swapping or having multiple sexual partners. This type of commitment generally is different as the couple choose to have only each other’s children while having an open sexual life.

Surety

In a committed relationship each partner is sure of what the other has agreed to. Commitment in a relationship also means lack of confusion regarding where you both stand. In a stale system like marriage, commitment is important. In fact even if you both aren’t married, commitment means solidarity in where you stand.

Transparency

Commitment in a relationship also means transparency of the promises and deeds each makes. When a couple is truly committed to staying with their loved one, they will be transparent about their feelings, expectations and deeds.

Effort

The meaning of commitment in a relationship is defined by the amount of effort each puts in. Effort to make things work between you two, in staying together and in keeping each other happy. A couple that is committed to each other is a couple working on staying together.

Long term goals

Commitment in a relationship usually implies a sense of working together on a long term goal. If you and your special person have been dating for a while and try each day to work things out to get married, invest in things together or even build a future as lovers for life, that…is commitment.Now we’ve seen what commitment in a relationship means.

Here are the pointers for everything that is not a committed relationship:

Lack of sureness

The first and foremost sign of a relationship without commitment is this. If you are not sure of where you both stand in a long term perspective, you are in a relationship without commitment.

Non-exclusivity

Now, this applies differently to different types of couples. If you are both sexually and emotionally non-exclusive. I’e; you or your partner keeping their options open is a sure sshot sign of lack of commitment.

Lack of investment in a future together

When you are with someone you aren’t committed to, you won’t invest in anything together if it’s a long term project. Eg: getting a dog, having children, buying a house etc.

Irresponsibility

Lastly, the most easy way to spot a relationship without commitment. Lack of responsibility shows that you or your partner do not see you as part of their life. While in a true commitment, the opposite would be true.

Featured image courtesy : MileWalk

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