There are plenty of reasons why people settle in relationships. Part of it could be the "safe" route. You might have gotten out of a bad relationship or are just tired of the drama of dating and you finally found someone who is steady and dependable. You could be afraid of being alone after being single for many years and jumped into dating the first person who paid attention to you. Maybe all your friends are in relationships and you are starting to feel like the perpetual third-wheel whenever you hang out and you just want to stop having your friends set you up on blind dates. Or maybe you have been in the same relationship for years and are scared to see what else is out there. It might have started off being fun but something changed but you do not want to break up with them since you are afraid of being alone.

If you want to figure out if you have settled or if you are really happy with your relationship, then you need to take some time and examine how you feel about your partner when you are together and when you are apart. There is a fine line between settling and being happy in your relationship. A lot of the time, settling is just about being content with what you have and that can seem a lot like love for people who have not experienced it before. But there is a difference between being happy with your life and being happy with your partner. A stable job and home can make you feel content with your life and your partner might contribute to that but if you do not think about them unless they are around, then this is a sign that you have just settled for your partner.

Being happy with your partner means finding someone who you like and can imagine living with, if you cannot do that, then you might be settling into the relationship. In today's world, it is hard to be single. There are dating sites and dating apps that want to help you find the one and it seems like if you are not in a relationship, then there is something wrong with you. If you are in your mid-30s and not dating someone, then everyone assumes it is your fault that you are single. Casual dating and hookups is seen as something young and immature and people judge people if they are not in a committed relationship. To find out if you are happy in your relationship or if you settled for your partner, you need to find out if you are only in a relationship to make other people happy. It is not easy but self-reflection is necessary to find out how you really feel about your partner.

The first question to ask yourself is how you feel when you see them. Are you excited? Happy? Nervous? Or, do you spend the whole time worrying about everything you need to do the next day or wondering when you can leave? When you are in a relationship, you should get nervous and excited when you get to see each other and want to make the best impression. Being a little nervous is good but you should not be dreading getting together or spending the night with them either. Anytime you are feeling uncomfortable or bad about being with your partner is a sign that you do not actually want to be with them. It is also a sign that you are just in a relationship just so that you are not single.

If you are in a relationship, you should be excited when you get to talk with them, even if it is just to hear their voice over the phone. You should want to talk to them every day and be around them all the time no matter what you are doing together. You should be making excuses to see them, not making excuses not to see them. Even when you are busy, you should still be thinking about them and wondering what they are doing.

You do not have to be happy every single day that you are together. That is unrealistic. Nobody is happy with their partner all the time and if you are making excuses, even when they make you upset because you do not want to rock the boat, that could be a sign that you are settling in your relationship. But you should also be willing to see them and hang out together even if you are not doing anything special. Another common sign that you are settling with someone is when you are afraid of arguments or asking for things to change because you do not want them to leave you or break up. You are constantly in fear of your relationship ending and this will make you feel unfulfilled and resentful. In modern dating, people are expected to spend a lot of time together. If you are making excuses up so that you do not have to spend too much time with them, then you are not actually in love with your partner.

Often people who are settling in relationships will say that they feel like the relationship is not going anywhere. Their feelings about the relationship are that it is not bad but it is not good either. There is nothing that is making you unhappy but there is nothing making you happy about the relationship either. Feeling "stuck" means that you think that your relationship is a dead-end but that you do not want to get out of the situation because you do not want to be alone. Relationships should be about improvement and change. You should want to grow as people and as a couple together. That means wanting to go through all of life's milestones and being able to talk about the future of your relationship. This should make you feel excited and happy not trapped.

If you want to find out if you settled, try to imagine moving in with your partner, paying the bills together, going on vacation, visiting their sick grandmother in the hospital, cleaning up after them when they are sick, etc. These are selfless things you will be expected to do for your partner and you should want to do them to make them happy. This also shows the relationship's progression into more serious territory since you are beginning to think about a future together. If you do not see a long-term future with this person, then you are settling into your relationship.

Is your partner the first person that you think about to talk to them when you are having a good day? What about when you are having a bad day? If you are truly happy in your relationship, then your partner should always be the first person that you should want to share things with. You should want to tell them all about your day and what is going on with your life because you care about them and you know that they care about you. If you decide to tell your best friend or your mother first before you tell your partner, then this could be a sign that your relationship is not something that you are entirely happy with. If you are settling with someone then you are not going to be talking to them about your life since you do not see them as a partner but just a person that you are dating. Your relationship should be based on wanting to share the good moments and the bad moments and you should not be afraid to tell them anything. This also shows your willingness to reach out and connect with your partner even when you are not together.

A sign that you are settling for your partner is that you are not happy with your sex life. There are many ways that this sexual dissatisfaction can be shown. Do you feel excited when you are alone together or nervous? Is it easy for you to stay in the moment when you are having sex or do you wish that it was over? Are you making excuses not to have sex with them? These are some very clear signs that you are not actually happy with your relationship and that you are settling. Long-term relationships will get a little stale sometimes especially when you have been together with someone for years and it is unrealistic to expect that it will be exciting all the time. However, if you are never satisfied with your sexual encounters and you never feel aroused or attracted when you are with them then you do not feel a real connection with your partner. People want to make their partner happy and to enjoy sex with each other instead of ignoring their partner's feelings. If you do not feel this way, then you are probably settling into the relationship.

Another sign that you are not happy in your own relationship, is that you start to see other people's relationships as perfect. You see your friends and their partners and automatically start to see all the problems in your own relationship. This makes you want something more but you are terrified of being alone and do not say anything which makes you unhappier. It becomes a vicious cycle. Maybe you wish that your partner would surprise you on romantic trips or maybe you are looking at their social media and seeing all the cute things that your friends' partners done for each other but either way, you are having problems being happy in your own relationship. If you are looking at other people's relationships and wondering why yours is not the same or if you are feeling dissatisfied with your own, then you are not actually happy with your relationship.

The fact is that people who are older tend to settle in relationships even when they do not love the person. Part of this is the fear of being single but it is also about the pressure of deadlines that society places on people once they hit a certain age.If you are a woman, people will expect you to be married or at least engaged by the time that you are a thirty. If you are not, they will think that you are sad and lonely and your friends and family will try to set you up. These deadlines make people want to settle just so that they can say that they are in a relationship. They can also mean that you are willing to put up with a lot more in your relationship so that you are not alone.

In modern dating, some people will be desperate to be in a relationship and get married that they will jump into relationships without fully knowing the person. The hypothetical biological clock is also a problem and it makes women think that there is a deadline to have a family and if they do not follow it then it will never happen for them. Even though this has been proven to be false, it is still a reason why people settle with partners they are not in love with. If you are a man and not married by your mid-thirties, people think that there is something wrong with you and it will be harder for you to find someone to be with. Women think that you are not willing to commit and that is why you are single. Feeling pressured is a big reason why people settle. If you are only with your partner because you are over 30 and alone, then you are settling.

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