Dating into a Relationship - 4 Stages of building/identifying your potential relationship

 So...this has been a long time coming.

I've always been an exponent of Dating being integrated more into society, not just in terms of the nomenclature and it's related subjects, but also in the inherent mindset of what it means to be Dating someone.
I've talked (and written) about how relationships could ideally be built up and how people should approach the process itself.
I've experienced and tried to live up to the rigors of relationships and being involved as a Boyfriend in the most honest yet honorable way possible, and have tried to espouse the importance of being one's self in these situations.
These being said, I was never able to properly jot down the process in an easy, comprehensible way, partly due to my own lack of surety about how to put it in a concise way. I was afraid that chronicling it incompletely would make it either look too short and simple, unintentionally skipping some key points, or conversely, making it too long and complicated would make it seem tedious and overthought.

Well, after years of trying and learning, I have identified 4 main stages in building a relationship or rather the steps to go through to best identify what the relationship can be built up to, and here's what I have arrived at. 

1) ASK OUT ON A DATE - A lot of people seem to believe that Dating refers to two people in a relationship going out or meeting up somewhere. Now while that does comes under the purview of the term Dating, the main genesis of this is actually when you and the other person aren't yet in a relationship and aren't familiar with each other.
I will not say 'Never be afraid of asking someone out on a date' because there are too many legitimate reasons to be afraid, and in some cases, rightfully so.
I will rather say 'Never let doubt/guilt be the reason for your fear of asking someone out on a date'. 
If you are single and the person you are interested in is single, then there is NOTHING wrong (other than the possible legality issue of age difference) with asking the person out on a date.
If your fear revolves around the confidence you have in your ability to ask the other person, or other elements that may affect how the question is asked or the answer is given, by all means take your time getting used to it and try to use that to present the question the best way possible for you.
You can still get refused/rejected, but there is nothing wrong in that.

2) GO OUT ON DATES - Remember, the purpose of going out on Dates is to get to know the person better, and for the other person to get to know you better. While the amount of dates you go out on or the frequency at which you do is subjective to circumstance, never try to rush Dates or what happens in Dates.
Learn about each other in the most relaxed way possible, and try your best not to push for more dates if you start seeing red flags.
Remember, you are still not committed to each other here yet, so pulling out is completely acceptable, and the same goes for the person you are dating.

3) ESTABLISH A RELATIONSHIP - After you or your Date reach a point where you can decide whether or not to be exclusive to each other, make the conscious SHARED decision to get into a relationship with each other. This will now mean that you have become exclusive to each other and have decided to focus on your relationship over any others you may have had on the standby/possible horizon. This has to be shared and agreed on as it means you both are committing to each other as relationship partners, having slowly built up the terms of your relationship via the interactions you've had while going out on Dates.
IF you are at that point and for some reason the other person isn't, that is a red flag. Deal with it as you best can or make a decision on whether or not you or your partner are wasting your/each other's time with a situation that isn't going anywhere. 

4) OFFICIAL GF/BF/PARTNER - You might be wondering what's different between being in a relationship with someone and actually being an official partner, and I admit, there are certainly times when 3 and 4 are merged together or happen simultaneously.
In fact, for a long time, this very point was the main reason I couldn't complete this article/blog because it was a nagging feeling knowing that there was something that differentiated the 2 but not being able to properly define it or point it out.
Well, I can now.
The key thing about the 3 stages I'd mentioned above are that they are all primarily personal stages that are all about the relationship between the 2 people involved.
There may or may not be people who share info about it, but the main point is in building or identifying the building points of the possible relationship.
When you both get to a point when you can start sharing your relationship with the world around you, not just in terms of the society you live in, but also the social frameworks that you both already had set in place, that's when you decide to make it official and become each other's Official Partner.

This isn't as straightforward as it may seem, as it isn't just a question of knowing your partner, but also your own self. Many times, even in non-romantic circumstances, the person we are is a product of the situation we find ourselves in, so it is entirely possible we ourselves unwittingly project a version of ourselves that, while not necessarily false or fake, doesn't show the full picture of ourselves because it's what is required at the time. The same goes for your partner as well.
Which is why, a lot of times we are surprised by the way we ourselves or someone else can seem like a different person depending on where we are, who we are with and what occasion we find ourselves in.

So Stage 4 should only be reached once we get to know all these factors and are still interested in building the relationship.
However, remember, once you enter Stage 4, you have now made a conscious decision that is public and known and that you now owe it to the partner you chose along with the relationship you have chosen to get into to try your best to maintain it. Stage 4 is when issues that require compromise start being identified and when roadblocks need to be dealt with rather than avoided.
So, enter Stage 4 only when you both are truly sure about entering it.

There are many more things that could be said about each process and the nuances of each stage, however that is both content for another article as well as something that each relationship must attune for itself, so I'll leave this article with this, the basic stages for the framework of Dating, as per PC Michael Lalrinkima

Side note -
This is a more personal distinction I keep alongside the above points regarding what I feel is fair in terms of exclusivity for the individuals involved in the stages :
STAGE 1 - Completely single, have freedom to be talking to whomever they wish
STAGE 2 - Still single, so you could potentially still be talking to others on the side, but only go out on dates with the one partner
STAGE 3 - Relationship is now exclusive. While not public, this is when you start establishing boundaries in terms of former potential romantic avenues
STAGE 4 - Completely exclusive and subject to public knowledge now.