You’ve finally found a girl you like and have been seeing her regularly. It’s a new relationship and you’re excited about it, but new relationships are tricky. Here’s what not to do in a new relationship. If you follow these rules, you might actually keep her around for as long as you want.

#1  Ex To The Next

Don’t compare your new girl with your ex-girlfriend. Of course everyone has internal comparisons of little things here and there, but what you don’t want to do is start talking about your ex. Don’t say things like: “Hey, my ex-girlfriend used to order iced soy chai lattes!” See how wack that sounds?

#2 Secure Your ME Time

Learn to divide your time so that there is balance in your life and your new relationship. A great rule of thumb is the 50-30-20 ratio. This means that when you’re divvying up your leisure time, you dedicate 50% to hanging with the girl, 30% with friends and family and 20% for you “me time”.  Try this out and see how well rounded it makes things!

#3 Ix-Nay On The Parents Meet

You’re an unapologetic mama’s boy and you like to get her approval on whomever you’re seeing… but maybe that’s not such a good idea. Try to give you’re relationship some time to develop before you take her home to meet the parents. Meeting the parents for most people means you want to take the relationship to the “next level”.  If she’s not ready for all that, you might be doing more damage than good.

#4  Avoid The Text Mess

Don’t use texting to discuss your relationship. It doesn’t matter what you see on reality TV shows, texting is not for serious conversations. Do not break up, make up, or bring issues up over text. This one seems pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised how much it happens, to the detriment of the relationship.

Tags advice Dating Get over your ex-girlfriend guy issues Guy Stuff Relationships