9 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Date Down
Dating down can backfire.
Shan Boodram, a mainstream Intimacy Educator, has a plethora of valuable information on her YouTube channel. She’s a personable sex and relationship guru that doesn’t shy away from even the most taboo of subjects. Recently, she had Jeannie Mai on her podcast, “Lovers and Friends,” and she asked Jeannie why she’s changed so much since she’s married Jeezy. Shan pointed out a theory that many of us forget comes into play when we’re dating: Self-Expansion Theory.
Self-Expansion Theory is basically the idea that we enter relationships in the hopes that we will self-expand. In a sense, relationships allow us to pool our resources. The more we have close relationships with people, the more we can learn about the world around us. In my own life, I’ve noticed this phenomena drastically when I go about honing my craft. I’m a trained actor, but know that my imagination can only take me so far. In my early twenties, I realized that in order to get better at my art, I needed to have more life experience. I needed to facilitate adult relationships, in order to easily connect to the material I was working with. Then when I came back to performing, I had a better understanding of the human condition, therefore I could play parts that I wasn’t able to give truth to before.
