"People often dive right into a relationship and begin to lose themselves early on," Jennifer Silvershein, founder of Manhattan Wellness, told Cosmopolitan US. Limiting yourself, if you're in a new relationship, to weekly date nights means you'll spread out getting to know each other, and discover whether you really fit into one another's lives.
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Often these kinds of relationships built on infatuation can die as quickly as they started. The truth is, feelings of urgency and intensity or strong attraction toward another person is not necessarily a reliable indicator of whether you are in love or should immediately dive into a serious dating relationship.
According to a survey by Bridebook.uk, the average couple will date for 4.9 years before getting married, so you have plenty of time to space things out in a new relationship. Broken down, it looks like this: a couple will date for 17 months before moving in together, live together for 22 months (1.8 years) before getting engaged, and then wait another 20 months (1.6 years) before actually getting married.
The research also shows the number of previous serious relationships someone has before settling down as two, and that the average age that people get married has risen dramatically. In 1971, women were most likely to get married at age 22, but now that number is 30. For men, it’s 24 and 32, respectively.
Millennials definitely aren’t rushing into commitment as quickly as they might have in their parent’s generation, something the numbers show — instead, we’re all about the slow and steady. Who says millennials are impulsive?
This article originally appeared on Marie Claire.
