The most recent conflict in which I was involved was a break up with a guy I had been in a romantic relationship with for almost three years. Lane, Abigail, and Gooch define romantic relationships as being, “relationships based on intimacy, passion, and commitment” (131). Intimacy, passion, and commitment are considered the three components that make up Sternberg’s “the triangle of love” and all three were a part of mine and my ex’s relationship, especially during the first year of our relationship. Further down the road in our relationship we started fighting more and our intimacy and passion started to fade away; the commitment was still there, but not as strong as it once was. Then one day he decided he was going to join the army which was …show more content…
We had so many problems before and were drifting apart I did not think we would be able to resolve those problems if we were in two different states and could only talk by letter and an occasion phone call. I also realized that maybe I was not ready for the kind of commitment that would come with dating a guy who would constantly be moving around the world. While long distance relationships are not impossible, they certainly are harder especially when you are only eighteen and want someone who is in close proximity to you, not in a different country. In the book Lane, Abigail, and Gooch define proximity as being, “a component of attraction theory that is based on the idea that we are more likely to be attracted to people who are in closer proximity to us than to those who are not” (121). My ex and I were always together when we were dating, we spent more days in a week together than not, so for us to go months at a time to years at a time would be a difficult adjustment for us. A month before he was supposed to leave for basic I decided that I could not keep my feelings to myself anymore and that we needed to talk about the future of our