Living As A Couple, But Each At Home
Until now, the decision to live together in the same house was considered one of the final stages in the consolidation of the couple. Sharing space, routines and sometimes common goods was the starting point towards a consolidated relationship.
However, more and more people today decide to prolong this decision, despite maintaining stable relations. In a way, this seems to indicate that a percentage of society is learning to like living alone. Although it is true that others make this decision for other reasons.
According to the latest studies, this situation is global in nature, at least in the West, and it is not exclusive to a specific country or community. In fact, 35% of people living alone declared to be in a stable sentimental situation, but without cohabitation.
These data do not vary too much between men and women. The latter are the most numerous at barely 1%. However, what seems to be a crucial factor is age rather than gender. It therefore seems that the elderly are less influenced by the social pressures associated with forming a couple and living together.
Data by age
Among people over 51 who start a new relationship, only 22% say their plans for the future include the idea of sharing a home with their current partner. Most of them find it important to maintain their lifestyle without affecting the quality of their new relationship.
However, only half of people who are between the ages of 31 and 40 today and have stable relationships plan to live together in the next two years. On the other hand, at an earlier age, the fact of not living together in the first stages of the relationship is considered a fundamental step, as well as training and professional development before living together as a couple.
What are the reasons why we do not want to live as a couple?
This phenomenon seems to respond to several reasons. Thus, the fact of having already lived with another partner is the factor which is most linked to the probability of living as a couple, but everyone at home.
Experience shows that living each in their own home allows the members of the couple to feel more free in the relationship and with the possibility of making friends outside. They also feel less pressure from conflicts over household chores and common financial issues.
People who choose to live as a couple, but each in their own home, report that they feel comfortable preserving their privacy without giving up intimacy with their partner. Many believe it’s also a less traumatic way out of a relationship, if it was.
Couples that last over time
What is curious is that this new way of understanding couple relationships does not seem to reduce their quality. Or the duration. A high percentage of these couples are still together after 12 years of a non-cohabiting relationship.
Perhaps the idea of “having to find a partner” as one of the most pressing social demands of past generations is changing. Everything seems to indicate that the way romantic relationships are understood today is changing in many ways.
A new vision of relationships
This new vision of relationships continues to consolidate. However, those who experience it claim that it brings a greater sense of freedom, both in terms of choice and opportunities for personal development, unlike conventional marriages.
Nevertheless, the concept of the relationship, that is, the way it is perceived and its characteristics, is subjective. Therefore, many other people do not fully agree with this new vision. It all depends on the link and its participants.
Will this be the way to understand romantic relationships in the future? Will living together in the same house be relegated to the desire to start and raise a family? Are we witnessing for the first time the clear difference between the desire to have a partner and the desire to have a family?
This last question did not seem clearly separated from the first so far. The truth is, many people want to have a long-term partner. But without this leading to the creation of a family. There is no doubt that something very profound is changing in our society.
Our thoughts Mature love is cultivated, learned and experienced on a daily basis. Because in this type of love, the individual flourishes as a person.
