In this episode, I sit down with my best friend to talk about what it means to be in love with someone you care deeply for and how to navigate a non-monogamous relationship. We talk about boundaries, what it's like being in a relationship with someone who lives far far far away, and the challenges of dating someone you love deeply.
00:00:00.400Okay. All right. So, I mean, for those of you who said you're single, what, I mean, in today's day and age, what does being single really mean? You know?
00:00:13.600Yeah. I'm single. I'm unmarried. And non-exclusive. You know, not really even a situationship. I mean, I have someone I love very dearly who lives in the UK.
00:00:25.880Okay. And don't really know what the future looks like. But when we see each other, we are very much like a relationship dynamic. But outside of that, I don't ask his business.
00:00:36.460Wait. So, hold on. Are you in a relationship with this guy?
00:00:39.260I love this person. And I think, like, I mean, like, what's a relationship? Like, I'm in a relationship with my best friend. You know? Like, these are all relationships. It's just, am I free to date? Yes.
00:00:49.040Yes. Do I have someone that I love that I consider a potential future, like, exclusive partner? Yes.
00:01:19.220Yeah. Well, you know, we wise up eventually. Hopefully. Or we don't.
00:01:24.600But, I mean, he lives in the UK and you guys don't really have any, doesn't sound like you have an established understanding, really, in terms of the boundaries of your relationship.
00:01:36.860No, and that's kind of, like, there's a beauty to that. I mean, there are times when I, like, subscribe to the social norms where I'm like, oh, shit, like, do I need to have him committed to me?
00:01:45.900And, like, you know, all these things. And I'm like, do I even want him to be committed to me? Am I ready to be committed to him?
00:01:51.140I don't know. I don't know. Like, I can't necessarily answer those questions. So, right now.
00:01:55.660So, I mean, taking it, taking time, like, really developing the connection, like, you know, establishing what the values are, really establishing whether this is, like, a future father of my kids.
00:02:04.660And if he is, then, like, you know, taking it to the next level. I think, ultimately, I do long for an exclusively monogamous relationship.
00:02:13.760But, I don't know. I've always been really progressive, really open-minded about, like, ownership and possession.
00:02:20.380Okay. But you said you were single, but you're currently in love with a man in the UK.
00:02:27.900Is there a difference between loving someone dearly and being, you're not in love with him?
00:02:32.900You know, I think, I mean, God, I'm in love with so many aspects of him.
00:02:35.700I haven't really, I'm pretty guarded. And this person lives, like, long distance, right?
00:02:40.460So, the nature of, like, the interactions that we have are, like, short-lived, couple, you know, three weeks a month at a time in these gorgeous, exotic places.
00:02:49.700And it's not necessarily, like, you know, a great way. I mean, I don't know. I think I've always been a skeptic about, like, well, how do you know you're in love, you know?
00:03:40.220Um, so, you're in love with him. You see him how frequently?
00:03:46.400I love him so much. I love him very dearly. He's one of my greatest, like, one of the... I've loved him more than I... I mean, we... our relationship is so stemmed and, like, founded in friendship.
00:06:15.860But, you know, and I don't know that it would be fair to ask unless I moved there and we spent time there, like, you know, like long, you know, a longer, you know, period of time.
00:06:23.660Because everything's been in snippets for us about a month at a time.
00:06:26.300So you've been dating him for since January of 2021.
00:06:29.980During that time period, have you been seeing any other guys?