I was never one to feel the pressure when it came to finding a guy I truly loved, growing up, and “settling down.” However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve had to develop some kind of rulebook to prevent me from wasting my time.
- I’m not saying that I want to get married right now. Just because I’d preferably like to have a ring on my finger by the time my boyfriend and I have been dating for two years doesn’t mean that I’m expecting to get married straight away. A long engagement would be just fine by me.
- It’s more about the commitment. I want to be assured that we’re heading in the right direction, even if marriage isn’t quite on the cards after two years. Otherwise, what are we even doing together?
- If he thinks I’m “The One,” he might as well prove it. If we’ve already discussed it several times and we both know that we’re in this for the long haul then I don’t understand why we need to prolong the inevitable. We’ve both made it pretty clear that we want to get engaged in the immediate future, so the rule that I’ve implemented seems rather accurate to me. Two years = the immediate future, right?
- I’ve been messed around by guys too many times in the past. I know that getting engaged is a big deal and it’s not to be taken lightly, but I don’t want it to be one of those things that my boyfriend and I just talk and talk about but never follow through with. To me, this is the real deal and I don’t plan on being with anyone else, so I really hope that he stays true to his word.
- I don’t want to have to be one of those girlfriends who nags. It’d be great if my boyfriend naturally wants to take the next step as much as I do and as much as he says he does. If it gets to the two-year mark and there’s no sign of my ring, I’m gone. I know that sounds harsh, but why should I wait around? I’m sure that I’ll give him a few warnings before I ever walk out of the door, but if it does get to that point and he’s not willing to make the commitment anytime soon, then I’ll have no choice but to leave.
- I have a lot planned for my future. I have a lot that I want to achieve in my life, so I don’t want to waste one second of my time. I have fairly a good idea of how I want the next few years to go, and being engaged is an important milestone that I want to accomplish by a certain time frame purely so that I can get on with all the other stuff on my list. I’m not a patient person, but why should I have to be?
- My biological clock is ticking. Sure, I’m still young enough to be foolish and make mistakes and I’m not going to be left on the shelf anytime soon, but time is ticking away. Having a family eventually is important to me, so I want to make sure that I’m young enough to be able to go through the process naturally and without any complications.
- Life’s too short to wait around for a guy who doesn’t see my worth. Given the current state of the world, you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow, let alone years in the future. I’ve spent so long pondering things in the past that by the time I was ready to proceed, the moment had passed or the opportunity was no longer there. For me, life is for living and I don’t want to waste a moment.
- I know what I want. And that’s my boyfriend eventually becoming my husband, so we might as well get on with it. I’ll give him some more time; after all, we’re nowhere near the two-year mark yet, but he’d better not wait too long to propose or I’ll be a goner.
