What Is an Open Relationship?
For many people, an open relationship sounds like a dream come true. That’s because this kind of relationship has plenty of things going for it. For example, one of the open relationship benefits includes having sex with other people. That’s what an open relationship really is. Two partners have an agreement and mutual consent to have sex with other people. Lovely!
While this does sound good, many people think it’s similar to being friends with benefits. However, there’s a difference. In an open relationship, two people are committed because they love one another. They choose to have sex with other people because their partner may not be giving them enough of what they desire, and that’s perfectly fine.
Open relationship pros include many other things, too, and we’re about to tell you all about them. If this sounds like something you want to try, welcome! But be careful about how you break it to your partner!
More Time and Ways to Explore
We’ve established that people in open relationships simply seek more from their sexual experiences. With this kind of relationship, they have more time and ways to explore. How so? Well, different sexual partners already provide different experiences. Some might be open to the things you want to try, while others will help you experience things like BDSM or even bondage.
The same goes for your partner, though. To be clear, open relationships don’t mean you don’t have sex with your partner. You can be out there collecting sex knowledge and experience only to come back to your partner and show them what you’ve learned. After all, both partners need to make sure the other is happy and satisfied for this kind of relationship to work.
No Commitment, No Break-Ups
When you’re in an open relationship, there’s only one person you’re actually committed to, and it’s your partner. Think of other people as fuck buddies or one-night-stands. Well, that’s unless you find one person who meets all of your sexual needs, and then you come back to them over and over. When that happens, your person of choice needs to know that you aren’t committing to them. In case they stop fulfilling your needs, you’re still free to go around and find other people to fuck.
In open relationships, there are no commitments to other people. With that in mind, there are no break-ups either. So, you can freely go around and have as many sexual partners as you want, but also leave them whenever you want, too. Of course, it’s only decent to let them know you’ll be moving on from them just so you don’t leave them wondering what happened.
Practice of Communication
In regular relationships, communication is sometimes hard. You have to take your partner’s feelings into account and tiptoe around them when you want to tell them something. While you should still consider your partner’s feelings in open relationships, there is one significant difference — communication is open, too.
You and your partner both know what you’re in for when you’ve decided to step into an open relationship. Before you did, there had to be a conversation about how everything would go down. But even in open relationships, some partners can be uncomfortable with knowing how many people you banged. But people in open relationships are more open by nature, so this is a great way to hone your communication skills.
Being blunt and direct to your partner is always a great way to tell them anything. Plus, communicating openly will help alleviate any awkwardness you may feel around any topic.
You Make New Friends
When you’re in an open relationship, you’re free to interact and engage with anyone. That’s because your partner isn’t putting strict rules onto you, saying you can’t talk to the opposite sex, for example. In open relationships, you will come across many open-minded people and you won’t have to worry about what your partner thinks about you interacting with them. Why? Because they’re out there doing the same thing.
Not every person you meet is going to be your fuck buddy. Sometimes, you’ll just be able to form strong bonds, professional connections and make more friends. Yes, you can even be good friends with your fuck buddies if you’re both open to it. In these situations, though, it’s important not to catch feelings. If that happens, your whole open relationship can start crumbling.
Less to No Jealousy
If you despise having a jealous partner, maybe being in an open relationship is a good choice for you. In this type of relationship, there’s little to no jealousy because that’s what it means to be in an open relationship. Sure, everyone is different and partners can come up with rules both of them should follow.
The reason why there’s no jealousy in these relationships is that there’s no uncertainty. You aren’t going behind your partner’s back, and you trust that you’ll both respect set rules. However, it’s natural to get jealous in the beginning, especially if you’re new to the concept of an open relationship. But this is something you can get over easily.
Jealousy is a big issue in regular relationships because partners don’t trust each other. But when you have good communication, and you’re both open with each other, there’s not much that can go wrong.