Dating is an incredibly abstract concept to me and probably thousands of others right now. There are so many new rules, yet no expectations, and simply asking what the "title" triggers off a whole new commotion of waves by itself.
What does it even mean to be DATING as a millennial? Yeah, yikes is what I thought too.
Send help.
It's like "are you talking to just me like this" or "is this an every day with everyone type of thing?" OR is this a one-time thing? Because we know that happens often too.
I. Don't. Know. I'll keep you posted.
I've been in a "we almost dated, but nah" situation so many times because the idea of a title was too intimidating for the other person. Boys seem to think us girls want to go from "bruh" to "bae" to "wifey" all in one day, but.... hold up, WHAT? Definitely not honey. We want to chill for a bit too OK. There's no need to get too ahead of yourself and we won't either.
I'll give you that though, approaching the idea of a title has become very intimidating because of the fact that many people look at it as "a title means forever" (which is true in marriage 100% so exclude that). And that's where we're wrong.
It's not the title that matters. It's the relationship itself. You can make it whatever you want to be, with or without a title.
You don't NEED labels to be in a relationship. What you need is consistency. You just need to know that they're not going to wake up in the morning and change their mind. You need honesty and trust. You need a friendship to build off of and someone to grow with. And lastly, you need positivity about the gray areas because as we have established, dating is no longer a clean cut, one-and-done idea.
So... here is my advice. Embrace the uncertainty. It's okay to not have all of the answers right away. IT's okay to not dive in or to have some reservations. Some of the best and most memorable chapters of our lives won't be clear or have a title until much later in our lives, so why force it now?
At this age, I'm only interested in consistency, stability, respect, and loyalty. And you should be too.
After all, the truth is that we can never fully avoid uncertainty. Embrace it. Run with it. Explore. Uncertainty is simply knowing that you haven't chosen which door to enter yet, and that's okay. There's plenty to choose from and as long as you stay true to yourself and what you're comfortable with, you will find the right one.