{"id":23348,"date":"2023-09-27T01:04:21","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T07:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/?post_type=blog&p=23348"},"modified":"2023-10-16T10:26:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T16:26:53","slug":"tips-for-dating-someone-from-your-friend-group","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/tips-for-dating-someone-from-your-friend-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Dating Someone From Your Friend Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you start to date someone, your friendships with others can get weird. Especially if you both belong to the same friend group.<\/p>\n

It can create an awkwardness that wasn\u2019t there before. I know. I\u2019ve been the third wheel with a couple before. It can be uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

I also know how awkward it can feel when you\u2019re the friend that starts dating. You see, Mike and I were good friends and shared the same friend group before we started dating.<\/p>\n

In those first weeks and even months of dating, we had to learn how to interact as a couple, while still belonging to our same friend group. Here are a few things I learned \u2014 tips that will help you avoid friend group awkwardness, while also not being afraid to show affection toward your partner.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget to hang out with your friends<\/h4>\n

When you first start dating, it\u2019s easy to spend every second together. But hanging out in a group is a great way to get to know the way your significant other interacts in a group (and it\u2019ll help you avoid temptation). How a person interacts with others can tell you a lot about that person\u2019s character and how he or she responds to situations.<\/p>\n

Plus, your friends most likely will want to support you and be there for you while you\u2019re dating. Dating isn\u2019t easy \u2014 having a stable, honest community is a necessity.<\/p>\n

But when you do hang out, it\u2019s important to \u2026<\/p>\n

Be mindful who\u2019s around<\/h4>\n

I remember when I was single and hanging out with a couple. I felt like such<\/em> a third wheel.<\/p>\n

The three of us would watch a movie together, but I might as well have been watching a movie alone. The couple was giggling on the couch together, cuddling and acting like they were the only two in the room, while I sat there trying to follow the film\u2019s storyline in between spurts of giggles.<\/p>\n

It was so<\/em> irritating.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re with one other person, or even in a larger group, remember you\u2019re spending time with the whole group \u2014 not just your significant other. It sounds easy to do, but when you first start dating and are still really crushing on your girlfriend or boyfriend, it\u2019s easy to focus only on that person at all times \u2014 even when you\u2019re at someone else\u2019s house or out to dinner with friends.<\/p>\n

Take time to ask your friends questions and focus on them. Make sure you\u2019re not only talking to your significant other and exchanging inside jokes with him or her. It\u2019s super important to get to know your significant other, but it\u2019s also important to build and maintain a strong community. The two shouldn\u2019t be mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s OK to sit beside each other<\/h4>\n

When Mike and I started dating, I was concerned about making other people feel awkward, so much that we hardly even sat beside each other.<\/p>\n

When we started dating, our friends started treating us differently. We\u2019d be in the dining hall at college, and one of our friends would go to sit next to Mike, but seeing me walking toward the table, he\u2019d awkwardly step back and find a seat on the other side of the table so I could sit next to Mike.<\/p>\n

I hated that. I didn\u2019t want special treatment. And I didn\u2019t want to inconvenience people just so I could sit next to Mike. So I just decided not to sit next to Mike.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, that was\u00a0pretty ridiculous. Our friends were happy to let me sit next to Mike. They weren\u2019t inconvenienced by my love for him as long I remained kind and considerate.<\/p>\n

During the next few years of dating, we sat next to each other when we could, but didn\u2019t feel like we absolutely had to. We sometimes held hands in public, but not all the time. Now that we\u2019re married, we tell each other we love each other in public and even exchange a kiss in public occasionally.<\/p>\n

And guess what \u2014 our friends don\u2019t seem to care. In fact, they love that Mike and I love each other!<\/p>\n

When dating in a friend group, the important part is balance \u2014 don\u2019t put pressure on each other to sit together all the time or make a rule that you always have to sit as far from each other as possible.<\/p>\n

But what if you break up?<\/h4>\n

At first, Mike and I were a little worried about what would happen to our friend group if we broke up. For a few years we were the only two in our group who were dating, and we feared the awkwardness for everyone else if our relationship ended.<\/p>\n

I was afraid I\u2019d have to make new friends if we broke up, or that our friend group would be split in half.<\/p>\n

Though valid, that fear didn\u2019t stop Mike and me from dating.<\/p>\n

We talked and decided that if we did stop dating, we wouldn\u2019t make it awkward for the friend group. We decided that no matter what happened, we would stay civil with each other and continue to hang out in a group setting.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but because Mike and I individually stayed close with each member of our friend group, we knew that if we did break up, our friends wouldn\u2019t want to stop being friends with one of us.<\/p>\n

Over the years, several of our friends in our friend group did date and break up. We\u2019re all still friends to this day. Because we were so close, and because we knew each other so well, we continued being friends with everyone.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it was messy. Sometimes we\u2019d have to think about inviting certain people to certain events or not inviting others. We\u2019d try to let them know beforehand, though. We might say, \u201cI didn\u2019t invite you to this weekend because she\u2019s going to be there, and we didn\u2019t want to create an awkward scenario. But we love you and want to do something else with you instead.\u201d Most of the time, our friends understood.<\/p>\n

Whether or not you make it as a couple, having a strong community will benefit you in the long run. While your significant other might take priority in certain areas of your life, don\u2019t neglect your other friends in the group. Those friendships are something to be cherished.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2018 Dani Fitzgerald Brown. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can date someone from your friend group and maintain your friendships with the rest of the group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":39564,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23348","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dating","category-life-with-others"],"yoast_head":"\nTips for Dating Someone From Your Friend Group - Boundless<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You can date someone from your friend group and maintain your friendships with the rest of the group. 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