You Have to Stop Playing Relationship Chicken

Relationship chicken takes “If they wanted to, they would” to the next level.

A couple playing relationship chicken.

Dating these days feels like walking into a minefield. Every step is an all-or-nothing proposition. You either make the right move and get the girl or guy of your dreams, or take one wrong step and blow into a million hopeless pieces. There’s very little grace for any faux pas, and hardly any patience for clarification or a do-over. Unless you say and do the right thing at the right time, you don’t stand a chance in the long run.

The pressure begins early on. The first few text messages are crucial. One inappropriate question or one misplaced emoji and you’re out. After the first date, it doesn’t get any better — that’s when your expectations and the hundreds of arbitrary “rules” you hear from different sources lead you to play a dangerous game: relationship chicken.