There are five stages in a relationship. You’ll probably recognize when you moved in and out of these relationship stages.
The Main Five Stages in a Relationship
Lasting on one stage depends on the couple. Some couples never advance to the later stages because of incompatibility or emotional immaturity.

Stage One: Attraction and Romance
Every couples experience this phase. It happens in the beginning when both are in process of knowing each other. It can be called as fantasy phase because at this time the partner seems to be perfect. This phase lasts can last for some months to few years also.

Both of them focus on the similarities in this stage. You are likely that you are spending a lot of time together, seems that you are in love, after all, and you can’t think of being apart from your lover. Conflict is not only avoided in this stage but seems like it will never happen at all. It is fun in this stage but is not sustainable. People who are constantly changing partners are often trying to remain in this stage.

Stage Two: Reality Sets In
This stage will begin to creep in slowly in your relationship. In this phase, you don’t like your partner’s behaviors and start to see flaws. It’s not that you are no longer in love, but your partner doesn’t seem as great as he or she was in stage one.

The stage features many feelings running through your body that gives you a “high” sensation. Your body can’t resist this up forever, and so in this stage your relation begins to level down. You may even think that whether you are still in love or not.

Stage Three: Disappointment
When began as reality two often turns to disappointment in stage three. The problem arises that as a couple they know that arguments are bad but then also they are angry at each other. Some of the anger can be such as small differences between you. You don’t realize that conflict can be healthy, you wonder if this relationship is about to be over. In fact, you likely have thoughts of breaking up or getting divorced.

Stage Four: Stability
If a couple can go through the situation of stage three, they will find that stage four offers much rest and enjoyment. You now have history together and you have been able to work through some differences as being a couple. The fantasy of over, but you have accepted this. You have lots of differences and you sometimes fight, but you love your partner; feel connected to him or her, and you trust that you can work out in future conflicts.

You may, sometime, feel that you are little bored as the chase is definitely over. You may also miss the feelings what you felt in starting and wonder if those feelings can be found in someone else.

Stage Five: Commitment
Few couples make it till this stage, even couples who are married. In this stage, you are truly a team. You have chosen to be with your partner, flaws and all. You no longer miss the romance because that would lead to create space between both and it mean being with a new person and you don’t want that. You have a dream for the future together as a couple. If dating, this is the stage where you can get married and feel comfortable with that decision. It is a stage of mature and sustainable love.

Conclusion
Knowing about the stages in a relationship can help you understand your feelings about your partner and your relationship. It is natural to lose those early romantic feelings but that something it awaits more deeper for you in a later stage. The stages requires communication and hard work. It is worth the effort when you find the right person to share the your life.

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It is a very common question, and all of you who are in love at any point of time in your life have asked this question to your self, “m I in love?”, but it is not an easy question to answer. What feels like love to one person may be nothing more than attraction to another. Some people fall in and out of love quickly and often while others are never really in love as much as they are in lust. This can get confusing when you are a teen because romantic love is a relatively new concept for you and you don’t know what to expect. You are overwhelmed with all sorts of new feelings and social pressures. They are confusing. What is love? What makes you want a romantic relationship with one person and not another? How does your heart choose a partner? Why does love end? These questions can’t be easily answered.

One of the most confusing quasi-love feelings is lust. Lust is a very powerful, very intense feeling of physical attraction toward another person. Lust is mainly sexual in nature - the attraction is superficial based on instant chemistry rather than genuine caring. Usually we lust after people we do not know well, people we still feel comfortable fantasizing about. It is very common for people to confuse lust for love.

Lust is about physical attraction and acting ONLY on physical attraction. Love is about much more than that. Yet many people confuse an intense attraction for some sort if divine love. For teens, since feelings of attraction are still new and since pop-culture sells sex and love as one package, it is very easy to get the two mixed up.

Lust is clearly not love. Love is based on more than just physical attraction. Sure, attraction is a factor, but love goes deeper than that. Love is based on caring, friendship, commitment and trust. When you are in love it is as if you have your best most trusted friend at your side AND you feel physically attracted to them. It is the best of both worlds! Love is a shared feeling between two people who have a vested interest in one another’s happiness. Love is a positive feeling. Love is the total surrender of your heart to another person with the security of knowing they will treat it better than you will.

Love should feel good. It should not feel bad. Love should make you want to be a better person, it should not lead you to do something self destructive. Love is not demanding of your spirit but lifts it and makes it glow. Love is a good thing. Anything less is lust, deep friendship or attraction. So the sloppiness aside, the question remains, how can you tell you are in love?

There is no easy way to find the truth behind your feelings or the feelings of another person. If you agree with 7 of the following 8 statements you are probably in love.

1. The object of your affections makes you feel special and good about yourself.

2. If/when you feel jealous it is always fleeting; you trust your partner not to betray you
or hurt your relationship.

3. Nothing makes you feel as serene as when you and your partner are together.

4. When you fight with your partner you usually make up within a few hours and you always agree that nothing is more important than you both being able to express your true feelings (even if they sometimes cause conflict).

5. Your partner never asks you to choose between him/her and your loyalties to your family and friends - if you do choose him/her over them you always have a good reason and it is always YOUR decision and your decision alone.

6. Neither you nor your partner feels the need to test the other’s loyalties or feelings.

7. You are more yourself when with your partner than you are with anybody else.

8. If sex is part of your relationship it is by mutual desire and agreement without the slightest hint of commitment testing or persuasion.

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