5 Things You Should Have In Common Before Getting Into A Relationship

I know they say opposites attract, yada yada yada but the truth is if you are very different from your significant other your relationship is going to go through some challenges. The problem is that many of these problems are not out in the open when you get in the relationship and they come up later or if they are; you are so infatuated that you think you can deal with it until the honeymoon period is over then reality hits.
So I've thought about this long and hard and decided to share with you, my beloved some things you should sit down and consider before you get into a relationship with someone to avoid future heartache when one of you decides to opt out because it'll be too much they cannot handle.

1. Religious Beliefs

This is one of the things that do not seem like a big deal at the beginning because most of the time you don't discuss religious beliefs unless either of you is really religious and even if you do you don't think of how it might affect your relationship in the future. A Christian can go out with a Muslim until it comes a time where someone has to convert. A practising Christian can not have a long term relationship with an atheist and ultimately a Jehovah's Witness cannot be with someone who loves Christmas and birthdays. These 'minor' details do not seem grand when you're at the beginning of a relationship but will cause big problems somewhere down the line when you have decided to jump the broom or add some kiddies into your lives.

2. Friends with exes

Some people are cool with this and some people are not. I, on the other hand am not. I just don't see how someone can be OK with their significant other being "friends" which is a lie because they are not really friends with someone they used to spoon and fork. How??? So all of a sudden you don't feel like spooning or forking them you just "friends" because you broke up? Yeah, right.
But for those who are a bit more understanding than I am then there are no problems when you're cuddling up with your significant other and they get a call from the "friend" who's car has broken down on the M25; needs their help and has to leave you at 10.30 at night to go help them out and doesn't come back until 4.30am. Friends right? OK.

3. Opposite sex friends

In this day and age I've come to accept that we will have friends of the opposite sex. Strictly platonic (sometimes) and this is a topic I don't have issues with because one of my best buds is a guy and I would never in a million years think of him as anything else. Yep, he's in the friend zone so I'm totally understanding when my significant has female friends. I am not so understanding however when he has hundreds of female friends. If you look at his Facebook or Blackberry Messenger and 80% of those friends are women then he's a friendly guy and if the same applies for the young lady with 80% male friends, then she's friendly too. So in this situation if your potential significant other has a hundred friends of the opposite sex and you are fine with the situation then do you but if you know in yourself before you even get into a relationship with them that you are not keen on having a significant other who is more popular than Kim Kardashian and athletes I suggest you opt out before the going gets tough because it will affect your relationship later down the line.

4. Extrovert vs Introvert

I know a few people who are going to disagree with me on this but many will also understand. I will start off by saying this; an introvert needs an extrovert simply for the relationship to work but there comes a time where these two will start clashing. I like to think of myself as an introvert, loner more like and I cannot be in a relationship with someone who likes raving, hosting parties and just being on a "hype." In moderation this lifestyle is cool but when done exsessively and around an introvert it will cause problems because then one of us will have to compromise which will make you resent the person because hell, you'll be missing out on the Drake After party or they might have to miss Eastenders to go to the Drake After party. Either way, it might be fun and you might be understanding at first but will make you want to choke each other six months later when the honeymoon period is over.

5. Kids and marriage

Biiiiig deal! Getting into a relationship when you are 17/18 and not care what the other person's views on marriage and kids are is absolutely fine but when you are aging like myself you have to know how the other person views these. There are some people out there who really want to get married and have kids and there are some who are not so keen. In this day and age we have a lot of couples that have been together for 10 years and their not married neither do they have kids and are happy. Marriage and kids are not absolutely necessary these days as long as you both have that understanding and are OK with your living and future arrangements. You also have to find out when they are planning on settling down if they are and how many kids they want to have, if any. The worst case scenario when a child lover marries a non-maternal person and was not aware of this until after jumping the broom. Do your homework.

So, ladies and gentlemen of AVG Blog, do you agree or disagree and what other things should one look out for before say yes to a relationship?