Fairy tales tell us that once upon a time a girl met a boy; they fell in love, and lived happily ever after. Reality is not that simple. Long-term relationships force couples to get to know each other, involve themselves in each others’ worlds, fight through the hard times, and eventually develop deeper connections as noted through distinctive stages of Knapp’s relationship model. Although I have dated the same person for over two years, our communication through relationship stages makes it seem as though I am now dating a different person than the one I met years ago. Following dissolution and subsequent repair, I realize the most exhilarating of roller coaster rides develop through sets of ups and downs, much like the …show more content…
We only wanted to spend time with each other, making social relationships outside ours difficult. Spending so much time together brought our first conflicts. I soon learned topical boundaries when bringing up other guys or discussing our different religions made John angry and uncomfortable. Conversations ended abruptly and we did not revisit the sensitive topics until much later. As our relationship moved beyond involvement, his protective instincts overpowered everything. I initially welcomed this protection as a sign of caring since I always wanted a boyfriend to protect me from conflict, just like in the movies. However, this overprotective trend stifled me whenever my communications with another guy made John jealous and upset. He tested my feelings for him by manipulating guilt when I looked in the direction of another guy, for whatever reason. At the time, I ignored his jealousy because my strong feelings for him overshadowed my needs as an individual. Looking back, I realize our involvement intensified throughout this period of our relationship, for better and worse.
John evolved into my best friend and, wrapping myself in his world, I disregarded the importance of my core group of friends. We reached interpersonal commitment and all of my time belonged to John. We went to events and hung out according to his time frame, with little consideration for my needs. All John said was “no, I don’t want to do that,” and I respected his decision. Looking
Often times in relationships people tend to drift apart from each other due to their inability to be committed to each other for an extended period of time. Liam and Gabriella from the short story “Bluffing” by Gail Helgason demonstrate their incompetence to maintain a full commitment to one another, which results in Gabriella realizing that her relationship with Liam has come to a fork in the road. Liam has to choose between her, and his hiking career. Whereas John and Ann from the short story “The Painted Door” by Sinclair Ross exhibit their ability to stay together as well as be understanding, truthful, and communicative with one another. They have all the fundamental keys to a healthy relationship.
In the insightful book “My Antonia,” Jim Burden tells about his life growing up with his grandparents and his relationship with the Shimerdas. Reflecting upon this marvelous novel, I find that I relate to several moments in the astonishing story. First, a part of the story I relate to is when the narrator speaks of how the Shimerdas are great people due to the fact that they are always willing to give, even when they do not have much for themselves. Second, I relate to the part when Antonia and Jim kill the massive rattlesnake, and Jim feels that he is a grown man for doing so. Lastly, when Mr. Shimerda kills himself, it reminds me of when my teacher, Mr. Anderson, told me that most suicides are caused by money. These details stuck out to me, and I found I was able to relate them to events that have occurred in my own life.
A particularly interesting concept from the book is Knapp’s stages of coming together (Chapter 6). I will be utilizing these stages of coming together as the foundation for this paper. I’ve observed these stages throughout the course of my current relationship with my boyfriend, Joel. During the past three and half years of being together, I believe that our relationship has evolved into a companionate love (Chapter 7). Of course, relationships aren’t entirely fluid in that within these stages of coming together, we’ve also shared struggles as the dynamics of our relationship are renegotiated while we’ve progress through our relationship.
1.1 Key principles of relationship theories - Stage theories in general describe how we go through distinct stages as we develop. Thus, rather than gradually changing, we typically make sudden shifts to different plateaus of perception and behaviour.
“Tyler, I want nothing to do with you. You make me uncomfortable.” My best friend exclaimed this past June after blowing up at her and our friend group for no reason other than I was trying to find answers to why I was constantly being excluded from life. This lead to a 6 months period that ultimately
In the Shakespearean sonnet, “The Sonnet-Ballad” by Gwendolyn Brooks, the speaker uses such techniques as: repetition, metaphors and personification to show how her relationship is doomed because of war. The poem shows how war can change a man who was once confident and unaffected by pain, into one who accepts death without a struggle.
I’ve never publicly talked about personal issues, but while scrolling through my news feed, I find that some of my friends have the same problems I do. While creating new bonds and friendships, we would hope that both sides are putting in 100% into the relationship. However, the typical thing we see is that betrayal and manipulation are prevalent. I've been used for my brain, I've been used for my stature, and I've been used for the other benefits that come along. Freshman year of college, even with drastic changes, have given me more drops of high school than I could ever
Everyone remembers his or her first relationship because it is a chapter in your life. I can look at my first relationship, recognize and apply the class material and analyze the relationship. Every interpersonal relationship involves some degree of emotion, both facilitative and debilitative with both people constructing and improving the weak points. I will be discussing a two and one half year relationship I had with an ex-boyfriend whom I will call John. This relationship was my first and only long-term relationship that I feel is perfect for this assignment because we went through various stages of Knapp’s model.
It was the summer before 9th-grade year that I was no longer alone, I made a new friend. She is possessive and controlling. I thought we’d part ways before the two months would end, but she had other plans. Our friendship grew and we became friends with benefits;
My relationship with my best friend Johan can be easily described as a strong tie. We were roommates for 3 years in high school, so we spent much time with each other (amount of time), self disclosure took place often during our conversation, I would ask him for comfort if my mood was down (emotional intensity), we share private information and knowledge that are exclusive to other acquaintances, (intimacy), and we’re more willing to do selfless and large favors for each other than with other acquaintances (reciprocity of services). Once I was seriously sick, it was Johan who took care of me and sent me to the hospital.
Relationships, whether romantic or platonic, seem like an unpredictable area of life, but are they really? According to communication scholar Mark Knapp, this simply isn’t the case. In fact, Knapp created ten stages of relationship development to model the predictable course relationships take. To illustrate Knapp’s model, and other interpersonal communication concepts, the movie When Harry Met Sally is a perfect example. We will explore just how When Harry Met Sally clearly depicts all ten stages, along with many other concepts. This paper will start with initiation, then move through experimenting, intensifying, integrating, bonding, differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding, and end at terminating, while exploring other concepts within these stages
Three months ago, Justin asked if we could be Facebook friends. He tells me he cares about me and he sees me as a friend. How did we move from the pain and anger two years ago, to friendship and care today? The shift began when I shared my yearnings to be cared about. When I first asked, he bluntly told me he did not care about my hurt or sadness and unless it was about Jadyn, he was not interested.
There are many different kinds of relationships, and all of them require a commitment and an understanding between people. There are ties of friendship, relationships with family, those that we have with co-workers, and there are relationships in which two people are romantically involved. Regardless of the type of relationship, the desires are the same, to have perfect harmony between all connected. However, since we are human, a perfect relationship usually does not exist. When relationships are broken, or venture upon rocky seas, there comes a time when a person must decide if the union is important enough to work on mending the relationship.
The ebbs and flows of relationships develop in breadth and depth of incremental intimate topics.
The fairy tales say that once upon a time a girl met a boy; they fell in love, and lived happily ever after. Reality is not that simple. Long-term relationships force couples to get to know each other, involve themselves in each others’ worlds, fight through the hard times, and eventually develop deeper connections through distinctive stages of Knapp’s relationship model. Although I have dated the same person for over two years, the stages of our communication make it seem as though I am now dating a different person following dissolution and subsequent repair. However, even the most exhilarating of roller coaster rides develop through a combination of ups and downs, much like the stages of a relationship.