Friendship to Romance:

10 Ways to Turn a Friendship into a Romance

10 Ways to Turn a Friendship into a Romance:

“Friendship is love without his wings.”- Lord Byron It is difficult to understand, with the benefit of age and experience, the term “just friends”. There is little else in this world more valuable than a true friend. Yet friendship is the foundation from which love takes flight on those wings.

So you want to give your relationship wings? Here are 10 ways to turn a friendship into a romance:

1. Honesty is the Best Policy – If your feelings toward someone have developed to the point where you want to move the relationship forward, you need to make those feelings known, and the sooner the better. Keeping those feelings hidden out of fear of spoiling a friendship can actually be more harmful than airing it out.
2. Allow those Wings to Grow – If Byron was right, then it’s also true that love needs to learn how to use those wings. This is especially true when two people have been friends for some time. Don’t rush into intimacy. Let it happen naturally.
3. Double-Date – You can get accustomed to the idea of being a couple by spending time with other couples. Casual activities similar to those you both have enjoyed together in the past would work here. The added dimension of simply doing them as partners, with other couples, could be revealing.
4. Talk about the Future – Set time aside to discuss where you’d each like to be in five years, and where (or whether) the other fits into those plans.
5. Say it with Flowers – Sounds cliché, and it doesn’t need to be flowers, but a good way to nudge the relationship in a new direction – and test the waters at the same time – is to express your feelings on a different level. Subtle yet sincere is what you’re going for here.
6. Date Others – If you haven’t already been dating other people, well, that may be a clue right there for you. The prospect of your already having romantic feelings for one another is fairly good in that case, and would likely surface quite readily if you were to both date other people.
7. Keep Friendship First – Commit to one another that what you feel for one another as friends is foremost, and is the basis for anything that follows. Nevertheless …
8. Measure the Cost – Because no matter how important your friendship is to you, you imperil that bond once you foray into the realm of romance. So be sure that romance is indeed what you want. There’s really no turning back.
9. Consult Mutual Friends – It helps sometimes to get an outside perspective from those who know you well, both of you. Get a sense of how others view the two of you.
10. Take Inventory – What is it that makes your friendship work? How would that help or hinder a romantic relationship? What changes or compromises can you foresee being necessary? If you’re both already considering a romantic relationship, then discuss this together.

(source:.bestdatingsites.org/blog/2011)

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