Dating vs. Hanging out. Why it matters.

 

What is dating to you? What does hanging out mean to you? We probably have different ideas of what these two are and how they are different. To me dating is pairing off with someone and doing an activity together, the point of dating is to get to know someone better. This is great because its ok to go on a date with someone and if you feel like he or she doesn’t have what you are looking for its ok to not go on a second date with them and to just leave it at that. But on the other hand, its great if you do go on a date and he or she does have what you are looking for then you can decide to continue dating them.   Many people understand dating as being in a relationship and or having sex. This comes with a good amount of commitment and pressure many people are not looking for when they first meet somebody. Now for hanging out. Hanging out is usually described as a group of people having fun, this could be a group of friends going to the mall or hanging out at someone’s house for games and a movie. Different from dating where there is little commitment, hanging out has no commitment and you don’t get quality time with one person. Of course, there are exceptions like two friends hanging out but not dating. Ill give some personal examples. I had a friend, let’s call him Chris. Chris and I would go on walks around my neighborhood and we would hang out at my house while my family was there, he would also come over for game nights. Sometimes it was only me and him but we were not interested in dating each other so there was never any feelings other than friendship, there was no pressure and that’s ok. I had another friend and a couple times he called me up because on of his friends wanted to go on a double date, this is where four people pair off and go on a date together, and I would go with him to that. Again, we were not interested in each other but he was my friend and he had no one else to ask so I went with him and we had a lot of fun. The word Dating and its original meaning is going extinct, this is why I chose to write about this today. Its so important to date, to go out with someone and have fun. This is a great way to find a potential partner because you can go on dates and get to know many people in a short amount of time and I understand how some people could misunderstand this as playing but its not. This style of dating is something that needs to be shared and made known again. I would like to clarify that i am explaining this to an audience made of people who would one day like to be married. I met my husband though dating like this and this type of dating is very common in my community and I know it as the best way to get to know people while searching for your forever spouse. I know that dating doesn’t have to be a stressful and complicated thing. We should not be afraid of dating because of commitment or pressure, especially if you are young. Dating is fun and as casual as you want it to be. Also, dating doesn’t stop once you get married, I speak from experience when I say that you should never stop trying to learn about yourself and your significant other.