Stages of Love

The father of psychology Sigmund Freud once mentioned about the seven stages of life. Here I'm to crap bout the different stages of relationship. I had learnt from the movie "I Corrupt All Cops" and Eason Chan said that wearing a ring in different fingers brings different meanings. Starting from the thumb is courting, following by propose, engagement, marriage and separation for the rest of the fingers.

In a relationship we do have different stages as well. Firstly would be the flirting stage, or also called testing the market in economic or investment term. This is where you try hitting on someone to see the prospect of the relationship. This stage should not be practiced too long on the same target as your target will think that you're not being serious. 

The following stage is committed relationship. In this stage you 'claimed' that you are being serious to your partner and will spend most of your time with your partner than any other opposite sex species (besides dogs/cats/any pets or your mom for some cases). This stage is the most dramatic stages in most relationships, as there are less obligation as you have yet to sign the paper and yet to have a family, and you tend to follow your heart the most. This stage can be further expand to normal dating, cohabitation or even engagement and sex is one important factor in this stage. Average couples lasted 2-3 years before proceeding to the next stage, and is advisable not to stay on this stage for more than 7 years due some negative effects.

And of course the next stage is marriage. This stage can last forever depending who dies first. A marriage is also divided into few different stages. A newly wed will have all the lovey dovey moments for the first one or two years, and shall proceed to the next stage of marriage, which is starting a family. The second stage of marriage lasted until your children moves out of the house, and this stage is never easy. The third stage will be always be the best in a relationship, when you learn to appreciate your partner after all these years and when most have reach financial freedom. The downside of this stage is that you're not like your younger days when you have all the energy to do what you want, or maybe your partner died earlier than you.

The last stage is the separation stage, and you'll need to start all over again. This stage can be your second or third stage of your relationship. In life we need changes so that we have something to look forward. Relationship is a way for us to look forward on something we'd anticipated. We wish to do things with someone hoping to gain memorable experience. When a relationship turns less interesting, it's time to explore something new, or move on to the next stage (or even the last stage). 

Everything in this world has a linear rule of time and you can't stay on the same stage for too long. It's like steaming a fish. Firstly you season it and steam it for a specific time, not too long and not too short. And then you serve it and eat before it turns cold. Timing is very important just like in a relationship.

So, if you think you're dating someone for sometime, perhaps you should consider looking to the next stage.

p/s: Stupid 'yingyong' from Kim Gary made me write this. You should have stop me from ordering that :p