I’ve done topics somewhat related to this before, but today I wanted to approach it from a different perspective. Today I want to talk about not settling in dating and how we can be an example to our future children by doing so. If you’d rather watch, head here. And remember any outfit details will be at the bottom of each post!

Disclaimer: I don’t have kids yet, so maybe none of this will make sense or even work. I guess I’ll see when that day comes.

Being a single 26 year old in Utah can be rough. Dating is already hard but the pressures felt all around to be married only add to the stress of ‘I’m still single.’ I cannot even count how many people have told me that I should just settle so I can get married and start my family. And maybe you’ve been told something similar.

Let that sink in for a minute. Why in the world would you settle just so you can get a head start? I get it, it’s tempting, especially when you’ve wanted marriage and a family for as long as you can remember. But think about it this way: How do you want your future children to see your relationship with your significant other?

I don’t ever want to explain to my children something along the lines of how I wasn’t interested or excited about their father, but he was a great guy so I married him. I don’t want them to learn that settling is ever okay. Because not only do I and my significant other deserve the world but someday when my future children are dating, they should know that they deserve the world. I want to be an example of that.

There are so many times that I could have begun exclusive relationships with different people, but I chose not to. Although they were great, I felt I would have been settling. And I’m betting sometimes there have been guys who have felt the same way about me. I don’t ever want my significant other to feel like they are settling for me. I want to be the person that is everything my significant other has dreamed of.

Realistically, nobody is perfect and we will indeed have to settle in certain ways. For example, realizing that each person has flaws, imperfections and nobody will ever check all the boxes on our lists. Accepting the fact that you will need to be understanding of your significant others faults at some point is not settling. In fact it’s something that will make your relationship stronger. When I’m talking about settling, or teaching our future children not to settle this is what I mean: Don’t be in a relationship if you aren’t excited about it, if it doesn’t benefit or help you grow in some way there would be no point. Don’t be in a relationship just to pass time while ‘the one’ comes along. Don’t tell yourself ‘this is the best I’m going to get, so I might as well be with them.’

Show your future children that you can have a relationship that you didn’t settle for, but fought for. That you have a relationship that makes you happy and brings out the best in you and your significant other. Show them that while relationships might not always be easy they should be something that are worth it.

By not settling now and really investing our hearts into dating, not just dating for the heck of it, we are creating examples and experiences that we will one day share with our children. Let’s show our children that we don’t have to settle.

How are you going to be an example of not settling?

To read about why we should be excited when we date see this blog post:

// Cardigan here // Top here // Jeans here // Shoes here //