If you are in your early twenties then chances are you've been in the "talking" stage of a relationship. Also, chances are you've had to have the very exhausting conversation with your mom about what exactly the talking stage is. Which quite honestly might be even worse than the talking stage itself.
Over my experiences with the "talking" stage-- here's a list of why it sucks.
1. Explaining to your family members and friends
Like I said, explaining the talking stage to your mom may be even more emotionally draining than the talking stage itself. They want to know why you just don't go on dates or why you don't just make it official.
Because mom then I'd have to communicate my feelings about another human being to that human being and that is just too much.
2. Can you see other people?
Can you still hang out with other people? Can you go on dates with other people? What are the boundaries of this unspoken "talking" agreement? No one knows, and it's basically a catch 22 to figure out.
3. Who you can and can't tell
Are you allowed to tell people you are "talking"? Can you mention to your gal pals the amazing night you had last weekend? Or will he be upset that you are letting other girls know he may potentially be off the market? Does telling other people make it more than what it is?
4. Zero responsibility on both ends
One day you guys are talking 24/7 and flirting, and the next is radio silence. What sucks is in this stage it's ok to do that. It leaves for a lot of open-ended questions that neither of you really want to talk about.
5. Constantly focused on "whatever this is"
You will either end up in a relationship with this person or you won't. Again, you can bring up the "what are we" conversation but that can be scary and you probably won't get the answer you were hoping for.
6. Officially, unofficially together
You really have no idea if this person is talking to others or if they are exclusive to only you. You don't want to ask them about their potential other partners because you aren't together and want to give them their privacy but at the same time if you wanted to be intimate you'd like to know where else they've been. And if you can be physically together there will inevitably be some emotional ties that go with that.
7. If you don't ever become official, you don't get closure
If your fling ends up burning out and you don't end up together you never get that breakup closure, because you were never really together. This person could just ghost you one day and never be heard from again and you are left wondering what happened.
Being in the talking stage is a sticky stage to be in and though in today's mentality it is almost impossible to avoid, do yourself and your partner a favor and take some time to figure out what you want so that if it doesn't work out you do the least amount of emotional damage possible.
