Commitment is an act, not a word - Jean-Paul
Sartre -
We are now living in the world where the
marriage rate is decreasing, co-habitation rate is boosting and majority of
first-born children are born to unmarried parents. First of all, one should
always know how to differentiate between commitment and promise. In simple
words, a promise is something you say, and a commitment is something you do. Commitment
includes the willingness and goodness to strengthen the relationship. It
requires both wisdom and effort. Contrary, promises are meant to be broken. If
the relationship is based on a commitment, perhaps things I mentioned earlier
could be avoided.
Put that aside, we are big enough to
realize that commitment is important for a relationship. Now, let’s move to
something more interesting. There are numbers of advantages when you commit.
But our focus today is the drawbacks of being committed. For a change, we look
at it from a man’s perspective. www.askmen.com
has come up with top things you lose when you commit. Let’s dig it one by one.
Female
friends
Like it or not, once you get a
girlfriend, there will be some changes take place in your friendships,
particularly female friendships. You won’t be able to talk or spend much time
with them as you used to do. Why? Your girlfriend is now the priority. She
might see your female friends as a threat and you have to bear the risk later.
So, it’s the time to say goodbye to female friends and accept the fact that you
can’t have it all. For any other women, they have to understand that she gets
most of you and they can only be satisfied with the leftovers. Even the
leftovers is too over.
Weekends
Some guys spend their weekends just to
sleep, sleep and sleep. Some others sit in front of the television, watching
all those lame shows without getting any shower for the whole day. But things
not going to be the same if you are in a relationship. With both of you working
during the week, there is no much time left to be spent together. Thus, weekend
is the best time to be with your girlfriend. There must be a lot of activities planned
by your girlfriend and I’m pretty sure you don’t have the heart to say no. If
you find yourself not wanting to spend time with her, may be she’s not the
right one for you. So guys, treasure your weekends while you still have the
opportunity to.
Self-indulgences
You used to have some habits like
staying out till dawn and there was no one to ask you about it. Now, your girlfriend
will play the role and you have to answer her. You have to learn to deal with
“Where the hell were you?” types of questions. This might not be a problem to
you if your girlfriend shares the same behavior or habit. If that’s not the
case, then you have to schedule everything well so that it won’t become an
issue.
An
easy exit
It is often safe to have one foot out
the door so that when you think you are actually with an immature woman or you
just can’t go along with her, you can always withdraw yourself easily. But if
you are committed, you usually have friends together and met each other’s
parents. Hence, clean breakups are almost impossible.
Financial
independence
Relationship is not only about emotions
but also financially-related. When you are in a committed relationship, you
will engage to “What’s mine is yours, what’s yours is mine” kinds of thinking.
This is obviously better than “What’s yours is mine, what’s mine is mine”.
Either way, you are both now connected financially, and the other party will be
affected by your decision. Things will go smooth if your woman has good
financial habits but what if she is the reason for your credit card over-limit?
You may say that your girlfriend is not
like that and she’s not included in anything above. Everyone say the same in
the beginning but wait for at least one year and things will come to light. But
who knows, you might be one of the lucky dudes. By the way, all these above are
just some common things that happened in life. It may happen right after you
are in a relationship, happen after some time or will not happen at all. 
