8 Making It Through the Five Stages
When either partner skips the earlier stages of dating,
this can make it more difficult to get married. To get through
the five stages of dating, it is important to respect the whole
process. Each stage creates certain opportunities and chal-
lenges. The positive experience of each stage provides the basis
for successfully meeting the challenges of the next stage. In
school, it would have been very frustrating to take advanced
algebra courses without first learning the multiplication tables.
In a similar way, there is great wisdom in fully preparing
yourself in each stage before moving on.
Without a clear understanding of the five stages, it is
tempting to skip a stage, particularly when the challenges of
that stage begin to show up. Instead of facing the challenges
of stage one, a person might skip ahead to experience the be-
nefits and promises of the next stage. The problem is that when
the challenges of the next stage surface, a person is
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