by Kristine Tucker

Created on: May 24, 2010   Last Updated: March 30, 2011

Friendships often lead to the most thrilling love affairs, but the risk of losing the friendship in a painful breakup is always a possibility. Dating your best friend is a tricky and treacherous journey that needs to be approached with careful analysis and introspection. Possibly, you have spent months and years developing a steady and faithful friendship, but over time it has developed into a love affair. The relationship has evolved. Engaging in a relationship with a best friend can be a rewarding and risky adventure that often results in the love of a lifetime.

In order to maintain a healthy romance, it is necessary to keep the friendship alive. Taking the next step in a relationship and morphing from a friendship into a love relationship can bring satisfaction for both partners involved as long as the friendship stays alive. To keep the friendship strong and thriving, it is important to keep doing the things you loved doing together. Don't stop going to sporting events, playing catch, or going to cheesy movies together. Dating a best friend is about keeping the friendship that brought you together alive and flourishing.

Before altering a valuable friendship into a passionate romance, choose to move slowly. Taking a relationship to a deeper level should be done one baby step at a time. Jumping head first into a relationship that is changing from a friendship to a more intimate one needs proper time to develop. Enjoy the small developments in your relationship and don’t try to force deep commitments and long-term decisions in a short amount of time. Let the flame of your newly developing love for one another start with a flicker before it develops into a raging fire.

As your relationship develops, encourage others to support the change. Other friendships could be at stake when your relationship takes the next step. Possibly, everyone used to hang out together and now there are times when just the two of you want to be alone. Some might have a hard time accepting the changes so keep the lines of communication open within your circle of friends. Allow your mutual friendships with others to continue to blossom, so they won’t feel ostracized or neglected.

Dating your best friend could be a wise and fulfilling endeavor as long as you keep the friendship that you have shared strong and vibrant. Take the growth and maturity in the relationship slow and easy. Include your friends and family in the transition as your love grows and develops into a romantic love affair.

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