7 Reasons Not to Date within Your Circle of Friends ...

1. No Potential of Splitting up Your Friends Group

One of the most obvious but nonetheless important reasons not to date within your circle of friends is realizing that there is no potential of splitting up your friends group if you don’t look there in the first place. Expanding on tat point, (especially if you’re young), chances are your first few relationships have a small chance of ending in marriage so it’s inevitable that you’ll break up. And what comes with break-ups are split-ups, particularly if you’re dating within the same circle. Do yourself and everyone else a favor, by keeping the rat-pack together. Don’t jeopardize the fab-five for a short, messy fling!

2. Low Chance of Running into Them Again if It Doesn’t Work out

Also an obvious but crucial factor to consider when thinking of reasons not to date within your circle of friends, is remembering the fact that you probably won’t run into them again when you break-up if you don’t already see them regularly. However if you do choose to date within your circle of friends, and it inevitably doesn’t end up working out, you could end up seeing your ex at school, your place of worship, work, and especially while out with your friends. Because think about it, your friends were always his/her friends too. Don’t take that heart-wrenching chance, and make the effort to date someone outside your usual group of people.

3. Meet New People

There are billions upon billions of people in this world, so why limit yourself to the same five to ten people in your circle of friends? One of the many reasons not to date within your circle of friends includes the fact that you should naturally open yourself up to new people. When looking for someone to date and more importantly a partner, you want to be with someone who is like you, in that they agree with you on the big decisions in life. But you also want someone who challenges you, and may even have vastly differing interests from your own. That’s hard to find among friends, whom you usually bond with over similar interests and activities.

4. Develop Different Interests

By the same token that meeting new people is among the reasons not to date within your circle of friends, so is developing different interests. More likely than not, your friends are your friends because you get along and enjoy doing things together. Often those things include interests that everyone enjoys and can relate to. Say you all enjoy surfing, skiing and playing tennis or golf, so you all make it a point to do that together all the time. While it’s great when you find a partner who also loves doing those things, it’s even more exciting and fun when you meet someone who can introduce you to something new. Like maybe snowboarding or long distance running! The chances of that happening when you date within your circle of friends are usually less likely.

5. No Lost Friendships

The potential to lose a friend is something to remember when contemplating reasons not to date within your circle of friends. If you begin dating someone who is already a friend and it doesn’t work out, not only have you lost a lover and partner, but you’ve also lost a valuable friendship. Remember that before you decide to go out with someone whom you enjoy hanging out with in a group, whom you can count on, and whom you’ve already made so many fond memories with. All of those wonderful things can be lost if you enter into a relationship.

6. No Jealousy

The thing about dating within your circle of friends is that it’s a circle for a reason. Meaning there is a group of people who already know each other and enjoy spending time together. If you can’t think of any reasons not to date within your circle of friends, here’s one: you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings in the friends group. Basically, you don’t know who else is already crushing on the guy or girl you are and it’s silly to let romance get in the way of the bonds of friendship, though too often it does. Don’t make that mistake and nip any chance of throwing off this delicate balance right in the bud.

7. A Chance to Make New Memories

A compilation of all these reasons not to date within your circle of friends, is considering the fact that dating someone outside your usual crew, allows you to make new memories. Starting something new is exciting, fun, and you get to start from scratch without any previous history whatsoever. That fact is underestimated all too often; a lot of times with friends you know exactly what you’re getting. You already know your friend’s favorite color, food, and movie. But with someone new, it’s the start of another special adventure and it allows you to maintain a healthier social life and keep things completely separate - as they should be.

Dating in general can end up being much more complicated than it needs to be. One of the best ways to uncomplicate things is by dating someone whom you wouldn’t normally see with your group of friends. Have you ever ended up losing your entire friends group after a messy break-up? Have you ever regretted dating within your circle of friends? Do you wish you were still friends instead of exes? Do tell!