The relationship I have chosen for this assignment is my ex-boyfriend, David. Although the two of us are not together anymore the relationship that we had followed very closely with Mark Knapp’s stage development model. The first time that we met we introduced ourselves to each other, while in a group of people, and then went out with those people to go and do an activity together. We also had a time in our relationship where we went through the intensifying stage. After we learned that we both wanted to be more than friends and we began sharing more about ourselves and our hopes and dreams were. On our first date as we were coming out of the friend-zone as we both began to share and get to know each other on a deeper level we started to realize …show more content…
Especially while we were together as a couple it was important for us to communicating with one another about how things made us feel and if the other person had hurt us. When we did had time in person together our communication and forgiveness was always very easy for us because we had spent time communicating and offering forgiveness to one another. In the article Commitment Signals in Friendship and Romantic Relationships it talk about how studies have shown that commitment signals in interpersonal relationships are things such as trust, recovery and reconciliation. Even since breaking up we have been able to forgive the other person for whatever their part was in our relationship not working out and have a true friendship. I think that although we are no longer committed to each other in a romantic relationship, because we shared a long friendship before dating and because of our commitment to one another as friends while dating we are now able to have a friendship after our relationship. In the article Would You Do it Again, the author talk about what people say that they have learned from being in a long distance relationship. “Trust was listed as one of the main skills gained with the LDR. Many participants felt learning to trust their partner was essential for the relationship development. Some participants stated that this skill taught them more about themselves. By learning to trust, participants indicated that they felt more secure in their LDR and also more confident in themselves.” I think that because we were able to build trust through forgiveness and communication we both grew as friends and