Dating as an Adult

Let's talk about the fact that I have no clue what I am doing when it comes to dating.

The last time I dated, I was 15. It was high school dating. It looked something like this:

Him: "Do you want to go out with me?"
Me: "Yeah, sure."
Him: "Cool. Hi girlfriend."

Let me tell you something: Dating as an adult looks nothing like dating in high school. Teenage romance is defined by simple boundaries -- you are either an item, or you are not. Adult dating seems to be not defined, but muddled. It seems to be a process rather than a binary, and the boundaries are blurry.

From what I can gather, there are three stages to what I would have called "dating."

"Seeing Each Other"
Also called "talking to each other," this stage has very little commitment involved. You go on occasional dates to get to know each other better. You're not exclusive. You're probably not very intimate.

If at any point you decide that this is not going anywhere, you just stop seeing each other, no harm, no foul. Not much of a discussion is needed to end things at this stage.

"Dating"
This gets a little blurred with "seeing each other," but I think they're different enough to delineate. (I like definitions, you see.)

This stage has minimal commitment. You've decided you like the person and want to continue spending time with one another. You might be exclusive by happenstance, but you haven't actually had "the talk." Intimacy may be more common at this stage.

If at this point you decide that it's not working, you have to have a brief conversation, but there's not much in the way of hard feelings.

"Boyfriend/Girlfriend"
You've had "the talk," and have defined the relationship. You're exclusive (unless, of course, you've chosen to have an open relationship). You are probably more intimate than you previously were.

At this point, if you decide you no longer want a relationship with the other person, you have to "break up" with them. It's a full-fledged conversation with real hurt feelings.


^^^
This is all based on my observations and reflections. I really have no idea if this is accurate or not.