would you settle down with someone you don't love?

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ltcvnzl
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17 Mar 2018, 9:09 pm

then, would you prefer that the person loved you or not?



AngelRho
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17 Mar 2018, 9:51 pm

What do you mean by love? For me, love is an action, a choice. It’s what you do, not what you feel. Feelings are dynamic. You can fall in and out of love several times a day because you can’t control your emotions. You can be married 50 years and get a divorce because you don’t love your partner anymore. Feelings are fickle and fading. Never trust your affection and attraction. It can fool you and break your heart fast.

Now...do I have feelings for my SO? Yes. Do my feelings motivate me to behave positively towards my SO? Yes. Do I have a constant raging fire deep in my soul for her? No. And keeping that level of positive energy in the face of all that life throws you is exhausting. You only have just so much to offer, and at some point you’ll find yourself completely drained. You end up making sacrifices you can’t afford and end up losing yourself (and the girl if you’re not careful). You need a balance of highs and lows. And that means you won’t always “have feelings” for someone. Doesn’t mean you have to break up. It just means you need your own personal space and time to rest and create that balance.

Choice and action are the heartbeat of the relationship. Sending roses, texting a joke, complimenting her wardrobe or hairstyle, encouraging her work or creative activity, and so on. Crying with her when she’s sad, celebrating with her when things go well. THAT is love, IMO. Those are choices you can make every day at any time. And there doesn’t HAVE to be a feeling behind it. Your motivations are your own, but the result is always the same. Take care of a person’s needs and desires and you have love. Feelings may precede or follow actions or not, but anything done to one’s benefit or to positively enhance one’s well-being is love.

Would I prefer feelings accompany actions? Sure.



yellowtamarin
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18 Mar 2018, 12:33 am

No, because settling down is not really a specific goal of mine, and certainly not higher in priority than being in a relationship with someone I love (who loves me too).

Though I might not be understanding what you mean by "settling down". Do you mean like moving in together, making a lifelong commitment to stay together, those sorts of things?



Tim_Tex
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18 Mar 2018, 3:08 am

I don’t think I could.


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Sweetleaf
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18 Mar 2018, 3:25 am

AngelRho wrote:
What do you mean by love? For me, love is an action, a choice. It’s what you do, not what you feel. Feelings are dynamic. You can fall in and out of love several times a day because you can’t control your emotions. You can be married 50 years and get a divorce because you don’t love your partner anymore. Feelings are fickle and fading. Never trust your affection and attraction. It can fool you and break your heart fast.

Now...do I have feelings for my SO? Yes. Do my feelings motivate me to behave positively towards my SO? Yes. Do I have a constant raging fire deep in my soul for her? No. And keeping that level of positive energy in the face of all that life throws you is exhausting. You only have just so much to offer, and at some point you’ll find yourself completely drained. You end up making sacrifices you can’t afford and end up losing yourself (and the girl if you’re not careful). You need a balance of highs and lows. And that means you won’t always “have feelings” for someone. Doesn’t mean you have to break up. It just means you need your own personal space and time to rest and create that balance.

Choice and action are the heartbeat of the relationship. Sending roses, texting a joke, complimenting her wardrobe or hairstyle, encouraging her work or creative activity, and so on. Crying with her when she’s sad, celebrating with her when things go well. THAT is love, IMO. Those are choices you can make every day at any time. And there doesn’t HAVE to be a feeling behind it. Your motivations are your own, but the result is always the same. Take care of a person’s needs and desires and you have love. Feelings may precede or follow actions or not, but anything done to one’s benefit or to positively enhance one’s well-being is love.

Would I prefer feelings accompany actions? Sure.


I actually really like that, of course I wouldn't probably want my boyfriend to cry with me, unless it was something that was upsetting to us both, but for grief to do with stuff I've gone through without him I certainly prefer to let loose and cry about it when I am alone like when he is at work or already asleep. Like I prefer the whole listen to some music that sort of brings me back and crying my eyes out when no one is looking that is how I prefer to deal with personal sadness. But yeah I mean sometimes I get moody and don't feel like 'loving' anyone but once that passes there is still me and my boyfriend sticking together through any struggle that comes before us, because we are both making the effort to make a life together. Like yeah if we gave up on each other we would fall out of love and break up but with continuous effort from both sides to make it work we're doing well. But yeah sure we fell in love on the first date, but without continuous effort from both of us to keep a good relationship that would not have lasted. I mean initial romance is all brain chemistry...but to make it real both parties have to agree to 'love' each other and work together to keep that love strong. I don't think the chemistry aspect makes it any less meaningful...but it does mean you have to establish a good relationship before that initial elated feeling of finding a new romantic partner wears off.


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18 Mar 2018, 6:07 am

I defiantly would of when I was single if a woman would of been interested. I believe we would of fallen in love after being together for a while. But if we didn't, it would still be way better than being alone thou I would much prefer both of us to love each other. If I had my own place, I would of looked for a woman who needed a place to stay long term.


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whatamievendoing
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18 Mar 2018, 8:09 am

I'm actually not too sure. I do somehow like the idea of living together with someone I don't love in a romantic way, but I surely couldn't live together with someone with whom I don't have at least a very deep platonic connection. And even in that case, I probably couldn't live together with a female friend, unless that friendship developed into a romantic relationship later on.

I think I'd find it easiest to live together with either a male friend or a girlfriend/fiancée/wife. That said, living alone has benefits that living together with someone else doesn't. I love my personal space - possibly too much.


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18 Mar 2018, 9:30 am

ltcvnzl wrote:
then, would you prefer that the person loved you or not?
I don't know exactly what you mean by "settle down" (even to a native speaker of English, it's an idiom that can have different interpretations) but if this is a situation you are actually considering, then it entirely depends on whether you WANT to do it or not - and not what the rest of us might think.


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sly279
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18 Mar 2018, 2:52 pm

No. I won’t date women I didn’t have feelings for.



The Grand Inquisitor
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18 Mar 2018, 8:26 pm

Settle down with as in get married and become exclusive with one another? Why would anyone?



ltcvnzl
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18 Mar 2018, 8:29 pm

The Grand Inquisitor wrote:
Settle down with as in get married and become exclusive with one another? Why would anyone?


because you don't find someone you love and love you back and don't want to be alone?
i guess living with someone is also cheaper



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18 Mar 2018, 8:40 pm

AngelRho wrote:
For me, love is an action, a choice.

I couldn't agree more.


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ltcvnzl
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18 Mar 2018, 8:55 pm

AngelRho wrote:
What do you mean by love? For me, love is an action, a choice. It’s what you do, not what you feel. Feelings are dynamic. You can fall in and out of love several times a day because you can’t control your emotions. You can be married 50 years and get a divorce because you don’t love your partner anymore. Feelings are fickle and fading. Never trust your affection and attraction. It can fool you and break your heart fast.

Now...do I have feelings for my SO? Yes. Do my feelings motivate me to behave positively towards my SO? Yes. Do I have a constant raging fire deep in my soul for her? No. And keeping that level of positive energy in the face of all that life throws you is exhausting. You only have just so much to offer, and at some point you’ll find yourself completely drained. You end up making sacrifices you can’t afford and end up losing yourself (and the girl if you’re not careful). You need a balance of highs and lows. And that means you won’t always “have feelings” for someone. Doesn’t mean you have to break up. It just means you need your own personal space and time to rest and create that balance.

Choice and action are the heartbeat of the relationship. Sending roses, texting a joke, complimenting her wardrobe or hairstyle, encouraging her work or creative activity, and so on. Crying with her when she’s sad, celebrating with her when things go well. THAT is love, IMO. Those are choices you can make every day at any time. And there doesn’t HAVE to be a feeling behind it. Your motivations are your own, but the result is always the same. Take care of a person’s needs and desires and you have love. Feelings may precede or follow actions or not, but anything done to one’s benefit or to positively enhance one’s well-being is love.

Would I prefer feelings accompany actions? Sure.


this was beautiful, thanks.



The Grand Inquisitor
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19 Mar 2018, 1:21 am

ltcvnzl wrote:
The Grand Inquisitor wrote:
Settle down with as in get married and become exclusive with one another? Why would anyone?


because you don't find someone you love and love you back and don't want to be alone?
i guess living with someone is also cheaper

You can live with someone without 'settling down'.



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19 Mar 2018, 5:14 am

sly279 wrote:
No. I won’t date women I didn’t have feelings for.
To be in a serious relationship with somebody you must like them and be phyiscally attracted to them. The question is whether you have also to be in love with that person, and they with you. For some people on the spectrum, that is a serious problem if you have been told that a LTR is not valid without love, because often we are never sure whether we are truly "in love" what just what "love" really is.

It may be best to simply ask whether you think a relationship can work without worrying about whether you and the other person are in love.


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MaxE
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19 Mar 2018, 7:09 am

MaxE wrote:
sly279 wrote:
No. I won’t date women I didn’t have feelings for.
To be in a serious relationship with somebody you must like them and be phyiscally attracted to them. The question is whether you have also to be in love with that person, and they with you. For some people on the spectrum, that is a serious problem if you have been told that a LTR is not valid without love, because often we are never sure whether we are truly "in love" what just what "love" really is.

It may be best to simply ask whether you think a relationship can work without worrying about whether you and the other person are in love.
Also you can reject a suitor because you're not certain you love them, and live to regret the decision. If you would long for that person in their absence, then don't leave them. OTOH you should be faithful to that person unless it has been mutually agreed to be an open relationship.


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