Transcript
Emma Chamberlain (0:00)
Hey there, and welcome back to Advice Session, a series here on Anything Goes, where you send in your current dilemmas or anything you want advice on, and then I give you my very unprofessional advice, and then hopefully you take it with a grain of salt. And today's topic is a familiar one, the topic of relationships, dating, love, romance. This is a reoccurring topic here on Anything Goes, but to make it a bit spicier, today we're going to be discussing distrust in love, jealousy, trust issues, the not so fun stuff. And so, without further ado, I say we should just begin. I briefly interrupt this episode to let.
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Emma Chamberlain (1:18)
All right, starting with number one. Somebody said, the guy I'm in love with wants an open relationship, but I don't know if I'll be too jealous. What do I do? All right, let's break it down. Okay. Your boyfriend wants an open relationship, and you are clearly hesitant. I say that you're clearly hesitant because you're thinking about it to the point where you're asking me what you should do. Like, you know, a lot of decisions in life require an hour or two of thought. This is clearly bothering you. Sticking with you to the point where you're asking me, a random lady on the Internet, what you should do. Okay, that already tells me that this is not something that you're naturally comfortable with. This is not something that you have a really good feeling about. Okay? If this was something that you were naturally inclined to do, if it felt organic and authentic to your personality, it would have never made it to the Anything Goes Instagram account. I can guarantee that. Actually, I can't guarantee anything. I am not God. But I can reasonably guess that this is not sitting right with you. Now, before we go any further, let me tell you my take on open relationships. Okay, I have to start by saying that open relationships don't work for me, and I'm saying that without ever being in one, because I know myself enough to know that that is not a romantic structure that would work for me. Okay? I know that for me personally, romance, intimacy, connection at that level is far too fragile for me to allow another person into that equation. I know that dating and romance and all these things are so sacred to me that involving somebody else would completely destroy the relationship for me psychologically. And it would destroy me psychologically. It would destroy the relationship in my brain psychologically, but it would also, on a personal level, outside of the relationship, destroy me psychologically. It would destroy the relationship because I wouldn't feel like the bond that I have with that person would be ours anymore. And that's something I don't think I could handle. You know, I think what makes part of what makes a romantic monogamous relationship so special is that it's a relationship between me and one other person that is unlike any other relationship I have with anyone else on the planet at that given moment. You know, it's somebody who I'm in some ways trialing to be potentially like the father of my children. Like, it's, it's a serious thing to me. It's incredibly deep and vulnerable. And if, if another person was involved in it in some way romantically, it would break that bond, at least in my mind. Okay? It just would ruin it for me. And if that was something that my partner needed in a relationship, I wouldn't be able to do it. But I also think that being in an open relationship would ruin me as an individual psychologically. I think, again, in a monogamous relationship, somebody else and you. But somebody else is sacrificing their ability to be with other people to choose you. Right? And that sacrifice means a lot to me. You know, like when somebody chooses to be with me in a monogamous relationship, that means a lot to me. And I think, you know, if my partner was dead set on being in an open relationship, I think it would fuck with me because I have the capacity to be in a monogamous relationship. That's what I want. And I can be totally satisfied with just one part person. And so I think it would fuck with my self esteem, which is not necessarily a good thing. Right. Ideally, our self esteem is not coming from our partners, but rather it's coming from who we are as individuals and our work ethic and what type of people we are. Ideally, if we're good people, then that boosts our self esteem. It should come from ourselves rather than from others. But. But I do know myself and I do think if my partner wanted to go sleep with somebody else that night and didn't choose me, I think that would fuck with my self esteem. I'm being realistic. I know myself and I think that would bother me. I think I would get jealous. And I think, I don't know, I think just in general, the turbulence of having my partner be with people that are not me, I think that that sitting in the back of my head at all times would really be challenging for me and would cause overall emotional instability. So that is a long explanation as to why I personally don't choose to be in open relationships. But I wanted to give you that background before I kept going because, you know, I obviously have bias, right? It's not something that works for me. It's not something I've ever even tried or considered because I just know it wouldn't work for me. However, I do have some friends that either are in open relationships or have experimented with open relationships. Like, I know people who have experienced this and I've heard mixed reviews, okay? Some people love it, some people think it's great. You know, it sometimes comes with a bit of tension and drama because I think naturally when you involve another person, you know, it can, it can cause a bit of drama, right? But there are some people that I know who are like, but ultimately it's worth it. And then I know other people who have tried it and been like, ugh, no, not for me. So I really do think it comes down to who you are as an individual and what you're looking for in a relationship. Right? Like, there are some people who I genuinely believe are wired for open relationships. I've seen it, I've talked to people who, who feel that way. And it's hard for me to comprehend because I'm so the opposite and I'm so monogamous and that's so what I like. But it, it does exist. People do love it. People do find, you know, value in it. And I think it depends on you, okay? I also think that there's occasions now I don't want to. This is not me trying to ruin the reputation of those who want to be in an open relationship. Because I don't think that this is always the case. I think some people genuine, wired to just really love open relationships and it works for them and they love it. And if they can find somebody else who loves it, it's a happy ever after kind of story, right? But I think there are some people who are afraid of commitment and they want to sort of be able to have their cake and eat it too. Right. In some ways they want a traditional sort of monogamous relationship, but on the other hand they're like, but I don't think I'm ready yet. So I'd rather just ask my partner if we can be open so that I can basically, like, I don't have to feel boxed in or fully committed now. That's totally fine if the other person is cool with it, right? But I'm very protective of people who are like me, who do not like open relationships because I do feel like sometimes, especially in like Gen Z, there can be sort of a stigma around people who are in monogamous long term relationships where it's like, I don't know, maybe it's considered vanilla at times. It's like vanilla. It's, you know, super traditional, it's not modern, it's maybe even close minded. Some people believe it's closed minded to not be open. There's much more of a discourse around it today in my generation than there probably ever has been before. You know, I think the conversation is getting louder every. And that's great. However, I'm protective of people like me who don't like it, who aren't wired for it, because in the same way that it works for some people, it doesn't work for other people. And if it doesn't work for you, you're not vanilla, you're not close minded. It just doesn't work for you. So let's go back to the question that was asked. Okay.
