Top 10 Relationship Goals for Couples in 2023
People say that it’s the journey that matters, not the destination. But if you think about it, your journey is marked by reaching one small destination after the next.
Picture in your head what you would want your relationship to look like this coming 2023. Most likely, the things that will come to your mind are milestones that most couples want.
What are these relationship goals for couples exactly? What are these occasions within a relationship that warrant not just commemoration but also celebration?
Your relationship goals for 2023 should depend on where you are right now. If you are single, there are relationship goals for singles you should focus on. We have laid out goals at every relationship stage from dating up to marriage. See where you are and plan accordingly.
The Early Stages
Depending on what stage they’re at within the relationship, these goals can be different. In the early stages of a relationship, a couple is still getting to know each other. They’re at the point where everything is new. They may not even technically be a couple yet since they’ve yet to define the relationship.
So what are the goals at this stage?
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The First Date - As a goal, the first date is an important one. This is the point where a couple first gets together in a romantic context. They may have been friends before. They may have been complete strangers. The point is that the first date is when they meet up with romantic implications.
Whether or not there’s even a relationship going forward can, and often is decided by how well the first date goes. So while the first date is a goal in and of itself, the goal during the date is to make sure it goes well.
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DTR - The next goal is to define the relationship. This is when a couple decides the nature and the parameters of the relationship. Are they dating? Are they hooking up? Are they free to see other people or are they exclusive? What labels are they going to use in reference to one another?
It’s at this point where a couple decides if they are, in fact, a couple, what kind of couple they are, or if they’re just two people with a mutual attraction who occasionally spend time together.
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The First Imperfections - This particular goal can be reached in the later half of the early stages. Think of it as the end of Act One in a play. When people start dating a new person, they put their best foot forward and present an idealized version of themselves. Later, they get comfortable enough to let their mask slip and be imperfect around their partner.
The goal is not to be imperfect around your partner. Rather, the goal is for the relationship to be strong enough that you feel comfortable enough that you can allow yourself to relax and be imperfect.
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Emotional Intimacy - Building on the above, for couples, it’s not enough to be imperfect. A couple also needs to learn how to be vulnerable. Being vulnerable around each other is a form of emotional intimacy and it’s a strong sign of closeness and of mutual trust. It’s a sign that the relationship is more than just a crush or a fling.
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Future Goals for Couples in Progress
If the relationship goes well enough, a new set of goals will emerge with time. What are these goals? These are the goals that couples who are well-established and may get married want to achieve to make sure that they can take the next steps. Think of these goals as the precursors to marriage.
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Meeting Families - Among the relationship goals for couples, meeting each others’ families is going to be an important one to achieve. Getting married means becoming family. It doesn’t mean starting a family, a married couple is a family unto itself.
But the people within the relationship have families that predate the relationship and they’re going to want to meet whoever it is their family member is dating and possibly building a future with.
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The First Trip - Every couple should plan a trip together as soon as they are comfortable doing so. As far as smart goals for relationships go, being able to travel and be with each other exclusively in a different place is one of them.
There are a couple of good reasons for this. The first is that planning a trip can be a hassle and seeing how someone handles the logistics and the pressure associated with it can be a good indicator of how they handle pressure in general.
The second is that, on a trip, a couple will spend all of their time together. This will let them know if they handle being in each other’s presence for extended periods of time, which will be a great indicator of whether or not they can live together.
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Moving In Together - Another goal that established couples will want to reach is moving in together. Why is this such an important goal for a relationship? Because couples who want to get married are going to have to test how compatible they are living together.
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An Engagement - One goal that serves as a serious bellwether for marriage is an engagement. Most couples that are serious about each other will want to achieve this goal. Look, not all engaged couples end up married, but the majority of married couples started out engaged.
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Goals for Couples in the Endgame
When it comes to future goals for couples, there aren’t many that are as aspirational as getting married. To a lot of couples, that’s the endgame – the moment when people go from dating to being truly together, the moment that they pledge themselves together for the rest of their life. Marriage is not the only goal. There are plenty of others.
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The Wedding - As a goal, the wedding is usually a pretty lofty one. In fact, weddings are pretty expensive and many couples in America end up spending tens of thousands of dollars on one.
Why is this such a goal? Why do couples willingly spend that much money on a ceremony? Because it’s a celebration of their love and their commitment to each other.
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The Life Together - The ultimate goal of any committed couple is to be able to build a life together. This can mean having children, buying a home together, starting a business. It can look like a lot of different things to different couples. The point is that the life they build is theirs and it’s one that they want.
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Couples have goals - milestones - that they want to reach together as the relationship progresses. How these relationship goals for couples are achieved can look different depending on each particular couple. But the ones that make it will achieve these goals. They may do so asymmetrically, but these couples will achieve them together.
