The honeymoon phase describes the exciting and carefree early months (or years) of a relationship often filled with desire, yearning, and preoccupying thoughts about the other person.
It usually lasts from six months to two years and can be marked with lots of laughs, intimacy, and fun dates. Of course, the honeymoon phase is exactly that: a phase. Eventually, it ends, leaving both partners needing to adjust to a new, more sustainable reality.
“The honeymoon phase is the very beginning of the relationship when two people are first getting to know each other and everything seems very carefree and happy,” explains Beth Gulotta, LMHC, founder of NYC Therapeutic Wellness.
These five stages are attraction, reality, commitment, intimacy and finally, engagement. It may seem pretty obvious, but relationships – whether romantic or platonic – grow with time and undergo distinct changes as bonds are formed and intimacy is developed.
The 3-month rule is a 90-day trial period where a couple “tests out” a relationship to see if they're compatible. During the 90 days, couples learn about each other's likes, dislikes, and possible red flags. At the end of the 3 months, couples discuss if they want to pursue a long-term relationship.
Dating gurus on TikTok recommend a new rule to weed out incompatible partners. They call it the three-month rule, where people can evaluate potential partners for 90 days. They recommend not exclusively dating someone — or even kissing them — for these first months.
Instead, I'm talking about the trend known as the three-month itch, which occurs when a couple have been dating for about three months and suddenly one decides that they either want to exit the relationship, or morph things from casual to commitment.
The Decision Phase is arguably the hardest phase.
In the Decision Phase, you weigh if the person you're with is who you really want to commit to. Keep in mind that you don't need to think about marrying the person in order to enter this phase.
Unfortunately, with all matters of the heart, including romantic relationships, there isn't a specific number of dates that equate to exclusivity. Instead, Singh suggests thinking in terms of months rather than dates. By six months — or preferably before — you should know if you're in a committed relationship.
“Locking in a date a week is a good benchmark to aim for to be sure you're giving enough time to the relationship, without meeting up so little that the connection fizzles out.” Of course, when you're in those early stages of infatuation, it can be tempting to want to see someone you are dating as often as possible.
The honeymoon phase is a period of intense infatuation and excitement at the beginning of a relationship. While it can feel like love, it may not necessarily be the same as real love, which involves a deeper connection and a commitment to supporting each other through the ups and downs of life.
After a year together, it's clear that you're in it for the long haul. And when that happens, you'll also start thinking about the future. You'll start to consider marriage, moving in with each other, applying for BTO, starting a family… all the possibilities you and your other half can have.
The honeymoon phase is the preliminary phase of falling in love. It is actually the “infatuation phase”, that part in which all your boundaries collapse and you feel like you've known each other all your life. But remember—you haven't. It takes time to know the person you feel infatuated with.
Relationships headed for long-term success show the partners are comfortable, squabbles diminish, perspective increases, and chivalry emerges. Great relationships emerge from non-threatening moments of easy negotiation, intertwining current and future goals.
“Usually, infatuation lasts for between 18 months and three years,” says Mundin. “Unless a long-distance relationship is involved or an extremely insecure individual is fascinated, infatuation rarely lasts longer.” The remnants of infatuation may help strengthen a relationship, however, according to Lee.
The Second Stage: The Individuation Stage.
After the heady glow of the honeymoon period wears off couples will enter what I call the individuation stage of relationship. It's a phase where the flood of hormones is dying down and the default positive projections onto one another are tempered by reality.
"For one person that may be one date, but for someone else it may be one hundred dates, and that's okay as long as both parties consent." If you're curious about how long other couples tend to wait though, a 2017 Groupon survey found that most people held off for an average of eight dates before sleeping with someone.
According to a 2015 dating survey conducted by Time Out of 11,000 people worldwide, people decide to go exclusive and stop seeing other people after six dates — which, for many, falls in line with the one- to two-month mark. They officially declare themselves a couple after nine dates, on average.
Examples of dating red flags are: Talking only about themselves, avoiding difficult conversations, gossiping about their ex, and withholding affection.. Dating red flags can reveal themselves through a negative sign or action, a verbal or physical cue, or the hint of a personality flaw, and they can be dangerous if not ...
There is no particular month in a relationship that is difficult. You can be together for years and then suddenly face a hard situation in the relationship. Most people consider the first six months of the relationship to be tough since it's the beginning and they have to take time out to get to know each other.
The Second Month - Insecurities Begin To Surface After the fun first month of dating, the second month turns out to be one of the hardest months in a relationship for many people. For starters, some people get incredibly insecure because they start having strong feelings for each other.
Called the “rubber band” or the male intimacy cycle, it's when a man vacillates between being close to his partner and pulling away. Men do this for many reasons. The most important reason is to connect with their more masculine side and to focus on the activities that make them a good provider and partner.
Researchers have pinpointed the seven-month mark as the flashpoint where extramarital affairs begin, giving rise to the seven-month itch phenomenon. “Traditionally, seven years into a relationship used to be make-or-break,” says Savannah Ellis, founder and coach at the Infidelity Recovery Institute.
Inexplicably at some time between the 5th and the 8th month, the landscape shifts and as a Manager you suddenly have a new challenge. I like to call it the '6 month itch' (there is probably a better name for it!) Your employee starts talking with real authority about their job. They start to make suggestions.
Although there's plenty of research out there that tends to show the three-year itch really does exist, it's by no means inevitable. Every relationship isn't destined for a reckoning on its three-year anniversary, so don't expect it to happen to you.