We’re always told that relationships are forged organically, ergo easily. When you find the one, you just know it. If you are someone who struggles with a fear of commitment, or commitment issues as they’re commonly referred to, you’d contend that such a sweeping statement couldn’t be farther from the truth.
After all, for you, the experience of being in a relationship has been exactly the opposite. While you do get attracted to people and have no trouble dating casually, the minute your feelings begin to get intense or your partner gets invested in the relationship, you feel like you’re drowning in anxiety.
As the relationship progresses, this anxiety snowballs out of control. You get so scared of commitment that you bolt at the first opportunity you get.
Sounds familiar? Let’s help you get to the root of this fear of commitment and learn to cope with it better with the help of clinical psychologist and certified CBT practitioner, Kranti Sihotra Momin, who specializes in handling relationship-centric conflicts and issues. We will support you in overcoming your fear of commitment.
What Is The Fear Of Commitment?
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“Fear of commitment or commitment issues can be defined as having serious trouble maintaining long-term relationships. This fear can often become all-persuasive and affect a person’s professional, personal and social life as well. However, it is seen most commonly in the case of romantic relationships. Or at least, that’s where it manifests most strongly.
“In its most extreme form, this tendency can lead to commitment phobia or gamophobia – literally meaning fear of marriage. However, fear of commitment and gamophobia aren’t the same thing. A person who is scared of commitment may still be able to be in romantic partnerships. A commitment-phobe, on the other hand, suffers from a morbid fear of committing to another person for life,” says Kranti.
People with commitment issues do experience love, but for them, the feelings are so overwhelmingly intense that they can result in a near-paralyzing fear. Even if they want to build long-term, meaningful relations, anxiety prevents them from staying with a partner for too long. They may even commit to their partners only to backtrack later out of the fear of commitment or the wrong person.
Related Reading: 12 Signs You Have Found Your Soulmate
What makes people scared of commitment?
Like any other psychological issue, a fear of commitment doesn’t take hold or thrive in isolation. There are always underlying triggers for this tendency. Kranti lays out some of the key causes behind the fear of commitment as:
- Poor relationships: Having experienced or been around poor romantic relationships. An intense heartbreak or parents’ divorce can make a person scared of commitment
- Bad breakup: A person who has been dumped unceremoniously is likely to develop a fear of commitment
- Indecisiveness: The constant quest for the ‘right person’ or the fear of ending up the wrong person is also a trigger for this tendency
- Unfulfilling intimate relationships: Having experienced abandonment, abuse or infidelity in intimate relationships, especially during childhood or formative years leading up to the adolescence
- Trust issues: Trust issues are a common underlying cause for commitment issues
- Childhood abuse: A commitment-phobe may have suffered trauma or abuse as a child
- Unmet emotional needs: Attachment issues or unmet emotional needs during childhood can also make a person scared of commitment
- Growing up in a dysfunctional family: People coming from broken homes or dysfunctional families are likely to be wary of long-term relationships
One needs to look into past experiences to overcome the fear of commitment.
Related Reading: 15 Unwritten Rules Of Dating We All Should Follow
Take This Fear Of Commitment Quiz
How do you know you have commitment issues or not? Take this quiz to understand better:
- Are you always finding faults with the person you are dating? Yes/No
- Have you been dumped in an earlier relationship? Yes/No
- Have you been in a one-sided love that was never reciprocated? Yes/No
- Do you like casual hookups? Yes/No
- Do you feel neglected by friends who are in serious relationships? Yes/No
- Can you express your feelings to family and friends? Yes/No
- Do you feel that you always get attracted to the wrong person? Yes/No
- Are you committed to your career, family or friends? Yes/No
- Do you like keeping yourself busy so that you can avoid a relationship? Yes/No
- Do you feel claustrophobic in a relationship? Yes/No
If you have said “yes” to even five of these questions then be sure you have serious commitment issues.
What Are Signs Of Commitment Issues?
Identifying your own issues is often the hardest. Even if you have been caught in a string of short-term relationships, it may be hard to tell bad dating luck apart from a pattern of fear of commitment.
If you have been introspecting whether your lack of success on the romantic front points to something more significant, it helps to know what are the signs of commitment issues. These tell-tale indicators will offer you some clarity:
1. No inclination to date seriously indicates a fear of commitment
This is not to suggest that anyone who wants to date casually has commitment issues. There can be many reasons for this choice. Perhaps you’ve just got out of a long-term relationship or you’re concentrating on your career right now.
However, if it has been a pattern in all your romantic relationships, you need to pay heed. Kranti says, “This tendency can be considered as one of the scared of commitment signs if you’ve consistently ended relationships when things begin to get serious. Even though you may like the person you’re with or might even be in love with them, the thought of moving past the casual stage fills you up with anxiety.”
2. You don’t plan for the future in any relationship
“When two people are in a relationship or dating, the thought of what a future with their current partner will look like comes naturally. Often, long before they discuss long-term possibilities with each other,” says Kranti.
So, how do you know if you have a fear of commitment? Pay attention to this: If you’ve never envisaged a future with a person you’re romantically involved with, it is an indication that you struggle with a fear of commitment. You may tell yourself that this is because you want to live in the present. Or because this person doesn’t seem like the right fit.
But if this unwillingness to even entertain the thoughts of the next stages of a relationship has been a pattern, you’re operating from a place of fear and anxiety. These emotions are often triggered by fear of commitment or the wrong person.
Related Reading: 10 Tips to Date When You Have Social Anxiety
3. A commitment-phobe always questions their relationships
A fear of commitment must not be confused with an inability to love. On the contrary, your fear may be a result of intense feelings for your partner. You may love her but are scared to commit. You care for your partner, feel connected to them, enjoy their company, and yet you cannot stop questioning your relationship:
‘What if they don’t love me?’
‘Are things moving ahead too fast?’
‘Will this work out in the long run?’
‘Am I ready to settle down?’
If these questions weigh on your mind so much that they begin to interfere with your relationship, there are definitely commitment issues at play. In fact, this tendency to second-guess a relationship at every step of the way is one of the characteristic commitment issues in females.
4. Plans scare you
No, we’re not talking long-term plans. Even immediate plans fill you up with a sense of nervousness. Your partner wants to spend the weekend together or go to the movies on a Friday night but you just cannot bring yourself to say yes.
Instead, you dodge till the last minute with non-committal responses such as ‘let’s decide closer to the date’ or ‘I’ll let you know’ or ‘let me think about it’. Even if you do say yes, the thought of keeping up with the commitment makes you anxious and stressed out.
At times, you may wonder, “Why do I have commitment issues with everything?” But cannot pin down a reason. If you like the person you’re with and still hesitate in making even short-term plans with them, you’re undoubtedly scared of commitment.
5. If you lack emotional connect, you’re scared of commitment
You don’t feel emotionally attached to a partner, even if you like them. This lack of emotional connect is the mind’s way of ‘protecting’ you from getting hurt or suffering a heartbreak, in case things don’t work out.
“Since an emotional connection is lacking in your relationships, you find it easy to let go of them. You have a good time when you’re together but their absence doesn’t bother you. This enables you to move on from relationships without batting an eyelid. Instead of getting over commitment anxiety, you prefer to move on,” explains Kranti.
This pattern sums up fear of commitment to a partner or relationships in general to the T.
Related Reading: How Long Does It Take To Fall Out Of Love?
6. Commitment makes you feel trapped
When you’re scared of commitment, it doesn’t matter whether that commitment is your own or someone else. That’s why if a partner displays signs of getting invested in the relationship, it makes you feel trapped. For instance, if your partner says ‘I love you’, instead of saying it back, you begin overthinking what it means.
‘Are they getting too attached?’
‘Do they want to settle down with me?’
‘Where is the relationship going?
‘What next? Marriage, kids, family?’
“These thoughts make you uneasy, anxious, and fill you up with a desire to run away. You may or may not want to end a relationship just because your partner said ‘I love you’, but in that moment, you need nothing more than to get away from them,” says Kranti.
If you can relate to this, you display traits of a commitment-phobe.
Scared Of Commitment – 7 Tips To Cope
If you identify with these scared of commitment signs, you may find yourself asking – ‘Is it alright to have fear of commitment?’ ‘How will this impact my life?’ and ‘How do I stop being scared of commitment?’
These 7 effective tips will put you on the path of overcoming the fear of commitment:
1. Get to the root of the fear of commitment
“The journey to overcoming the fear of commitment begins with identifying the triggers for this behavior pattern. If there has been a traumatic or emotionally distressing event in your past such as a tough breakup or parents’ separation, you can easily narrow down your commitment issues to these occurrences.
“However, if there are no such obvious underlying causes at play, an inherent inability to let your guard down might be at play. This can be harder to identify. If you cannot understand why you struggle with this fear of commitment or the wrong person, consider working with a counselor to get insights into your mind or to seek commitment phobia treatment,” advises Kranti.
2. Face your fear by getting over commitment anxiety
Facing your fears is often the best way to conquer them. We have all been taught that lesson growing up. Our parents coaxed and pushed us to look for monsters under our beds when we were too scared to sleep alone. Or walk through an unlit room to beat the fear of the dark. Or stand up to that bully at school.
Your fear of commitment is no different. “To get over commitment anxiety, you have to step outside your comfort zone and stop letting your fear govern the course of your life. If you’re in a relationship, start with small steps such as taking the initiative to make short-term plans like dates or a weekend getaway. Or trying to think about being with that person for the long haul without getting overwhelmed. These simple exercises for commitment phobia can be immensely helpful in breaking problematic behavior patterns,” says Kranti.
Related Reading: Why did the bride run away?
3. Make room for a partner in your life
Commitment-phobes tend to have extremely busy lives. This serves a dual purpose for them – being occupied with work and other activities doesn’t let them feel the need for a long-term partnership and it gives them an easy out when things begin to get too intense in a relationship.
If you’ve convinced yourself that you cannot be in a serious relationship because you are a workaholic and have no time or energy for it, ask yourself honestly if that’s truly the case. Or are you just using your circumstances as an excuse to steer clear of commitment?
“To get over this fear of commitment or the wrong person, you need to take the blinders off and at least give another person a fair opportunity to become a part of your life. Maybe try not to schedule any work-related meetings on weekends and spend that time either with your partner or going on a date. Or if it’s a ritual for you to go club-hopping with your friends on Saturday night, take a break and spend the weekend at home with your partner,” advises Kranti.
See how it works for you and take stock of possibilities in a relationship with an open mind. To treat fear of commitment, you have to step out of your comfort zone.
4. Set goals to beat the scared of commitment signs
Once you have an insight into your behavior patterns and what triggers them, it is time to take concrete, albeit small, steps to correct the course. In case you’ve been wondering: How do I stop being scared of commitment? This is the way forward.
These goals can be big or small, ranging from changing your outlook toward dating to being open to dating people who are not ‘your type’ or taking an existing relationship to the next level. No, we’re not suggesting that you decided to move in with your partner overnight. But taking a trip or inviting them to stay the night at your place are good starting points to get over commitment issues.
These goals should be aligned in a manner that bolsters your ability to build healthy and lasting relationships.
Related Reading: Jealous Girlfriend: 15 Signs She Is Being Overprotective And Driving You Nuts
5. Free yourself from the ‘right person’ mirage
“Committing to one partner means choosing them from among all the options available to you in the dating world. However, when a person is caught in the fear of commitment or the wrong person, they just cannot bring themselves to make that choice. ‘There is a lot of fish in the sea. What if there is someone better for me out there?’ These thoughts often become their torments,” says Kranti.
But this search for the ‘right person’ or the ‘perfect partner’ can prove to be a mirage that leaves you exhausted, drained out and lonely. Of course, choosing your life partner isn’t a decision that should be made lightly. So, before you take this leap, think about what you want in a life partner.
“If you’re in a relationship, assess whether your partner checks these boxes. If you’re dating, focus on picking people whose outlook and goals align with yours. Once you find the person who is really close to your idea of an ideal partner, give commitment a chance,” she adds.
6. Socialize with people in healthy relationships
Have you ever found yourself thinking is it alright to have fear of commitment? Or so what if I’m scared of commitment? If you’ve had bad relationship experiences in the past, you may think that being alone is not half as bad as being in a messy relationship.
“One way to change this outlook is to surround yourself with people who are in healthy relationships. Your friends, siblings, co-workers. This is especially critical for people who’ve developed a fear of commitment because of seeing bad relationships, either firsthand or around them.
“Seeing people who are happy with their spouses and couples who complement each other can give you a new perspective on relationships. It’ll help you see what a holistic partnership looks like. Maybe you’d realize that you want that in your life,” says Kranti.
7. Talk about your fear of commitment
Let’s say you’re in a relationship where you feel that you love her but are scared to commit. Or you enjoy being with him but don’t know if he’s the best choice for you. Perhaps, your friends or family have been giving you grief about a string of broken relationships.
“Don’t evade the conversation or find excuses for why you feel things aren’t working out. If you’re in a relationship, talk to your partner about the fear and anxiety you feel. When other loved ones express their concern, share your inhibitions with them openly. Laying your fear bare to others is one of the best ways of getting over commitment anxiety,” says Kranti.
Do you know that you have commitment issues but still struggle with questions such as ‘is it alright to have fear of commitment?’ and ‘how do I stop being scared of commitment?’ Consider seeking professional help. A counselor can help you make sense of it and find a way out.
FAQs
There could be a number of reasons for which you have a fear of commitment. Past relationships not working out, toxic childhood, or the inability to focus on the fact that you have finally found “the one” could lead to fear of commitment.
You could be liking someone, you might be in love with them even but when the relationship starts moving from casual dating to something more serious, you start feeling trapped. You have no space for a partner in your life and you feel if you commit you will hand over the reins of your life to someone else. If you feel this way you are scared of commitment.
The first thing you should do is delve into the root of your commitment issues. Look into why you feel this way. Then try to face your fears and slowly make space for a partner in your life. If not living together try to spend a night or two with them to build a bond. Socialize more often, be around people who are in healthy relationships and talk about your fears with a counselor.
