How to Know if You Are Ready for a Relationship

How to Know if You're Ready for a Relationship

Introduction

Ready for love? That's a big decision that deserves some thought. If you're asking yourself whether you're ready for a relationship, the answer lies in a look at your feelings, lifestyle, and goals. Ask yourself hard questions and take your time to decide. You'll know when the time is right.

Steps

1. Identify the emotional state and patterns you've been in recently. Examine your most common physical and emotional responses towards different events and relationships. This can help you be more conscious and honest with yourself about how you handle later relationships.
2. Examine your lifestyle. Consider whether you have enough emotional space and time for a partner. Do you have other major commitments in your life that need to be taken care of first? Do you have a daily routine that provides enough stability for a relationship? Do you have time for fitness, quiet time, and other self-care practices?
3. Evaluate your current goals. Does your current goal list reflect an excess of self-focused goals that should be achieved before focusing on someone else? Is there room in your current life for someone else and do you have the patience to cultivate a shared goal list with another person?
4. Set physical boundaries for yourself. Both in terms of the intensity of your relationship (e.g. keeping your romantic partners local) and how much access you offer your partner (What do they get to share in? Where does your privacy begin?).
5. Analyze your previous relationships. Look at what patterns or role-playing that you have fallen into and what roles you've held. Write down the consequences of those, as well as the changes you need to make in order to move forward.
6. Be honest with yourself about what you're looking for. Understand the difference between settling into a pattern of fear, gratification, and avoidance vs. seeking out a mature and loving relationship. If you're not sure about someone, take a break from the relationship until you understand what it is that you are looking for.
7. Rely on your internal barometer. At the end of the day, the choice is up to you. If you continue to come back to the idea of a long-term relationship, it may be a sign that you've come to terms with your feelings and your lifestyle and that you are in fact, ready for a relationship.