There are a large number of benefits to dating someone who is of a different race than yourself. These benefits include a different perspective, enjoying the beauty of a wider range of people, and ironically enough escaping unnecessary artificial boundaries. Some of these benefits are downright obvious when you really think about it, but they can be hidden until your mind is sufficiently open.
Different Perspectives
It is easy when one dates a particular group to develop a sort of echo chamber. A certain set of beliefs, values and expectations become the norm, and your entire perspective grows further and further along those same lines. When your group of people is very homogeneous, it can be simpler. Nonetheless, this is a very limiting way to live, especially when you are dating.
Dating has a lot to do with experiencing new things. While not everyone you date may have the potential to be a lifelong mate, a lot of the people you date are going to teach you more about the world and how you interact with it. This may be easy to miss since this is not a “classroom” type of experience. But the teaching and learning process becomes that much faster and more complete when there are people of different races in the mix.
Opening Up Your Options
The dating world is awash in different options, and it can be easy to put a lot of filters into these options. When it comes to physical appearance and cultural background, it can be very easy to set a large number of walls and obligations. Unfortunately, these can be very limiting, though they may be reassuring in the short term.
When you date interracially, you allow more potential mates to enter your life and allow for some dramatically different experiences. The unpredictability is fun, and the chance to meet someone who is outside your original comfort zone can be an amazing experience. Stay with just one race, or worse simply staying within your own race, can lock you out of having some truly wonderful experiences that may end up having real staying power.
Making Race a Non-issue
One of the ironic things about dating a person of another race is that, after some initial potential awkwardness, there really is no issue at all. When you open yourself up to dating other races, you begin to see that there are far more similarities between people than there are differences. These similarities let you experience a fun set of dates that are just that – you can stop being with “a person of a different race,” and just be with “a person who you can have fun with.”
Far too often, people impose racial guidelines on who they date in the interest of keeping things fun and predictable. However, the predictability can actually hinder your ability to have fun with someone because there are too many boring expectations.
Keeping an open mind and putting yourself out there honestly are the main keys to getting the most out of Interracial dating.
