What do you Prefer? Companionship or Relationship ?

Companionship refers to company, an associate, a friend or the one who is someone we know we like hanging out with while,  obeying the capacity of being a friend.

Whereas,  a relationship refers to being connected or being involved with a person. Different types of relationships co-exist in the human arena with emotional and physical connotations attached like friendship, kinship, romantic relationship et al.

We humans are dynamic in nature. We are an emotionally challenged species with mental, emotional and physical needs. Few of us desire to be in a relationship with our partners and a few wish to sail the ship with a companion and there is a third type, which accepts relationships only if is powered with companionship, nothing less and nothing more.

Companionship lays more on the flexible side of the coin when talking about freedom, accountability, understanding and trust. Having said that, it does not mean that companions don’t have “exclusivity” as one of the properties but exclusivity here is in association with liberal understanding they share with each other. It’s this liberty that enables the companions to put themselves out there and explore yet with no obligations on their platter.

On the other hand, a relationship is a more complicated language. Each inch about the term “relationship” has its strings interconnected with each other. It looks simple and clear from the outside but is an intricate concept. It demands mutual respect, love, faith, trust, commitment, accountability, shared sense of responsibilities and duties…aaaaaaah…phew!, all those heavy words analogous to being “effort intensive”.

RICKY- When I was dating Jennifer, I never really wanted a relationship with her—just companionship. However, I didn’t care about her feelings or that if she thought we could ever head towards marriage. All I was concerned about was having someone to talk to and spend time with as it helped me feel that my life was back to normal. She was filling an emotional need and that’s all I cared about.

Some people are basically are in need of some company from time to time to fill the void that keeps visiting them seldom on account of the choices they make along their life tracks. Therefore, they are seen oscillating from one person to other with “NO STRINGS ATTACHED”as the USP of their trade.  For them, a companion is nothing more than a company who helps to keep be occupied and achieve the satisfaction they require to keep up with the normalcy in their lives. Relationships are a “BIG NO-NO” for them as they have own notions of freedom.

MONICA- When I was dating Marathon Girl, my first concern was for her happiness. Yes, it was nice to spend time with someone by my side. I patiently waited for her to work through her issues. More importantly, I was willing and able to talk about the relationship I wanted with her. I wasn’t afraid to talk about our future together. I was trying to find ways to move the relationship forward to the goal we both shared—marriage.

This is the Relationship seeking category. People under this category, view love as indispensable for a continued contented survival. For them, being in love and being committed to somebody instils a sense of purpose, something to look forward to in life. They prefer “Friends with Benefits” only in “reel” but not in reality.  They value attachments as precious embellishments in their lives, in the absence of which they experience getting burgled by dementors. For them to be able to love somebody with no baggage attached is still a novice approach struggling to seek recognition.

Now, to be able to have a relationship with your companion is something anyone would kill for. It’s like being in love with your partner with whom you share un-dented lines of mutual understanding and trust, therefore naturally realizing it as ones duty of being accountable to their partner rather than running away from for it latches on like an albatross on one’s shoulder. It’s like sailing on a unique “ship” with relationship and companionship on board cordially enjoying a glass of wine together.

They say relationships are hard work, but if done the right way, it can transform into a forever type of companionship.

Ergo Relationship v. Companionship is no contest. Both have equal impetus at various stages of us social beings. We are emotional mammals with our own version of Pandora’s Box of hierarchy of physiological to self actualising needs, appropriation of which dominates our life goals. Relationships as a way of life is a personal choice but living alone isn’t. We as the highest forms of social beings  wired as such that in order to be able to sustain one’s life, a considerable type of an attachment is a prerequisite which might as well can be either of a platonic friendly nature or can be a friendly with no or a romantic with all strings attached type of a bond.

With all said and done, the meat and potatoes of this congenial altercation is that a relationship demands consistent effort for its longevity. A successful companionship is the most secure relationship two people can ever have.