Pros And Cons Of Dating A Friend

They say that the best relationships have been built on a friendship. There is no doubt about it, when you can be friends with someone that you love in an intimate way it is a good thing, but what happens when you are friends with someone first? For instance, what happens when you fall for your friend and you want to take things to another level. How do you make it work? What are the pros and cons of dating a friend?

There are some really great things about dating a friend. In fact, you may find that dating a friend has some really positive things about it including but not limited to:

There will not be any of those awkward getting to know you moments
You know what one another stand for
You know that you get along well
You already know you fit into one another's lives well
You know that the person knows how to treat people they date
You don't have to hide your baggage, they already know what your baggage is!
Your friends all know him/her already

There are also some things that you may want to consider as being not all that appealing about dating a friend. For instance:

You may actually be too comfortable with one another (think: farting)
There will be none of that "getting to know you" stage that is often very exciting
You may not know where friendship stops and relationship starts
You may find it difficult to move past old perceptions of one another
They know all your baggage and can hold it against you
If you break up you may lose a friend
If you break up it may affect your whole group of friends

As you can see, there are a lot of pros and cons to consider when you think about dating a friend. A lot of the pros are also cons and this is because what we love about our friends isn't necessarily what we love about our lovers or what we want our lovers to know of us. You need to weigh all of the pros and cons of dating your friend, with your specific set of circumstances, and decide for yourself whether or not dating a friend is for you.

Many people decide that it is worth it to risk experiencing all of the cons while others decide that they would rather just stay friends, not willing to risk what you have between you as friends. You simply need to weigh all of the pros and cons that you come up with and then go from there. If you aren't sure, test the waters with the knowledge that you can back out at any time if things aren't working.