If you’ve been dating your partner for 3 months, you might feel a little panicky or even get cold feet. This is totally normal because things are finally getting real – and they should be! To ensure you’re on track, here are some milestones you should be hitting.
- You should be having real dates. While it’s always good to have some space in the relationship to do your own thing, you should be spending a lot of time together with your partner. You should have real dates, not just chilling at their place or only seeing them across town once a week.
- You should be chatting regularly. By the time you hit the 3-month mark in your relationship, you should know what your texting styles are and be calling or texting each other regularly, either daily or at least once every couple of days. While the exact quantity of texts and calls will vary from one couple to another, you and your partner should have settled on regular communication that feels good for both of you.
- You’re still loved up. Although things are getting serious, you’re still having fun! You might still feel like you and your partner are in the honeymoon phase or that you’re still getting that butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling before dates. You want to milk this for all it’s worth because it feels so good.
- You should be making room for them. By this time, you should be making more room in your life for your partner, and they should be doing the same for you. This is part of making each other a priority. You shouldn’t feel like they’re not letting you into their life or compartmentalizing because they’re not being open with you. That’s not the behavior of someone who’s serious.
- You should feel you can trust your partner. If you don’t trust your partner by this point in your relationship, what are you even doing together? You should feel that you’ve spent so much time together getting to know each other that you can trust each other. This is forming a stronger foundation for a more serious relationship to take root.
- You’ve defined things. It’s time to define the relationship, ladies. If you’ve been dating for three months and you haven’t defined what your relationship is, then that’s a red flag you could be wasting your time. By this stage of the game, you should know where you guys are headed and what you are. If he’s still saying you’re “hanging out,” sorry you’re not actually dating or getting serious.
- You’re building a deeper connection. Although you’re having fun and laughing a lot together, you should also be building a stronger bond. This is because you should be talking about more than just the fun topics, such as deeper, more serious things, and seeing that the person isn’t perfect but real.
- You’ve met at least one of their friends. Even though you might not be at the stage in your relationship where you’re introducing each other to your family or parents, by the three-month mark you should have met at least one of their friends, who you’ve totally charmed. This is because you’re opening up your lives to each other.
- You’ve officially been given the girlfriend title. By the time you’ve been dating for 3 months, you will have defined the relationship, as we mentioned earlier. You should also be comfortable with relationship labels, so they should have called you their girlfriend instead of introducing you to people they know as “their friend.”
- You’ve leaned on hem for support. When you spend more time with someone and you focus on building a relationship with them, they’ll see you at some of your low points. While this isn’t fun, it’s important. If you can reach out to them when you need support, that’s a good sign that you’re building trust. You also want to feel that this person you’re dating is your cheerleader and not just there for the drinks and laughs on a Friday night.
- You’re getting stronger feelings. Maybe when you first met the person you were immediately attracted to them. Then, you started catching feels. While there’s no set time when you should feel that you’re heading towards feeling love, by the three-month mark you might find that you’re ready to exchange those little (big) words.
- You’ve moved through some relationship milestones. You should feel that your relationship is progressing. While there are different types of relationship milestones to experience, and when you hit them will vary depending on your specific situation, by the three-month mark you should have hit some important ones that make you feel that your relationship is progressing. For example, you might feel good that you’ve spent time at their apartment, you might have had your first disagreement, or you’ve had The Talk to make your relationship official.
- You can express yourself. Now that you’ve been dating for many weeks, you should be able to talk about difficult topics and express yourself, such as if something your partner does irritates you. This helps to set the foundation for healthier communication, which (along with trust) is also a good foundation for a happy relationship. So, get talking!
Why 3 months of dating is such an achievement
- Most relationships fizzle out about now. While you should still be firmly in the honeymoon stage when you’ve only been dating for 3 months, this is often the period when many relationships fall apart. You suddenly realize things aren’t working out and that you’re not at all happy and all of a sudden, your fairytale romance implodes. The fact that this hasn’t happened yet with this person is worth celebrating.
- You haven’t gotten bored with them yet (or vice versa). When you’re dating someone new, they can seem really great at first. They’re hot, they’re charming, you seem to have a lot in common… However, by the 3-month mark, you’ll have got to know them better and maybe you feel like you’ve discovered all there is to know about them (or all you care to know). You’re not bored with them yet — you think they’re pretty interesting even now.
- Hookup culture is destroying the dating world. How easy would it have been for one or both of you to have slept together and then just gone AWOL from one another’s lives and onto greener pastures? Hookup culture has completely remade the dating world, and not really in a positive way. The fact that you’re sticking with each other is noteworthy and it feels pretty damn good.
