Polyamorous Relationships: Understanding a Lifestyle with More than One Partner
The idea of having to share someone you are madly in love with sounds crazy, right? The answer may be yes for some while others disagree. Polyamorous relationships include more than the standard two person quota. A polyamourous relationship is a relationship that involves multiple people involved with one another, with everyone understanding each other. To better understand exactly what a polyamorous relationship is, the Merriam-Webster definition is “involving, having, or characterized by more than one open romantic relationship at a time.”
There is no definite answer as to when polyamory began- it is safe to say like homosexuality, it has always been around whether most knew about it or not. The way polyamory works is solely based on what is agreed among the multiple partnerships, it is basically founded on mutual consent. What is to be understood though, is that polyamory is not an open relationship. Due to that being the case, polyamory will not flourish without honesty, and open-minded individuals that are able to communicate effectively. The importance of why people choose to be in relationships with more than one partner vary. It can give security, teach discipline, and open people up to new experiences.
In trying to find love, polyamory can be helpful. It’s ok to try new things when it comes to experiencing what works and what doesn’t. Trying something new for the sake of yourself can be what you need. A lifestyle with more than one partner can teach one to love themselves in different perspectives, and can teach one how to love others deeply all at the same time, in a way that involves loving one another together. Recently on the Red Table Talk Willow Smith discussed that she wouldn't mind being in a relationship with one woman and one man because she stated that polyamory is about “creating the kind of relationship that you want for your life. It’s about creating a community in which interconnected passion, and communication, and love, and it’s really about for me the evolution of human relationships and emotions.”
She goes on to explain that polyamorous relationships are not solely about sex, but rather what one person could give you emotionally, and in terms of connection that the other person could not. If one can not feel these connections towards that person, there could not be an attraction sexually. A lifestyle of polyamory allows for one to deeply understand intimacy, in which is described as being “nourishing for the soul” on the Red Table Talk.
As mentioned before, polyamorous relationships being viewed as simply being an open relationship are often mixed up and addressed as just that, an open relationship, in which this can be misleading. There is a wide difference between the two that should be understood. Open relationships are based on communication between the two individuals that are committing to the relationship, and agreeing that it is ok for one to go out of the relationship if necessary and branch out to someone else. It sounds like polyamory, but in open relationships it is about going outside the relationship for sexual purposes. For polyamory it is not the same, and is not in terms “cheating,” because there is an understanding between the two partners, as long as which ever partner in the relationship pursuing the third person has an accepted understanding towards this third person from their partner.
Even so, acceptance is not always needed for open relationships. This ideal of being open is about not having to solely sexually commit to one person. Polyamory is about multiple relationships intertwining based on love and emotional connections as stated by Willow Smith on the Red Table Talk.
It is understandable that polyamory is not for everyone. This is not about persuading you, and telling why you should leave your partner to try polyamory or abandon your beliefs and religion to try what’s on the rise in terms of this generation’s love system. Polyamory is another way for Millennials to find love and emotional connection in a way that us Millennials would understand. Even so, polyamory is not just happening within the Millennial generation, the generations before Millennials are also getting involved in the polyamory lifestyle as well.
It is simply just another way of finding an emotional connection with other human beings that carry the same intentiontions and mindset as your own. Wanting to try the lifestyle of polyamory can be scary. Without understanding what will happen once you’ve taken the role of being in a group relationship, you’re basically making yourself vulnerable to two or more people which can go drastically downhill or rise to become a healthy and booming poly partnership.