So, you and your significant other have been on the rocks for awhile now. Bickering all the time, making sly comments, and overall being decidedly unhappy. One day your oh-so-wonderful BF comes home with a box, and out comes a promise ring. You're ecstatic, taking pictures of your ring finger like nobody's business as it glitters under the flash of your phone's camera, posting said pictures all over Insta so Rachel and Becky from high school can wonder how you got a commitment before them.
If only they knew, sis. If only they knew.
First of all, it sucks that your boyfriend doesn't realize what he is promising to you. Promise rings signify an intent to get married, maybe not super soon, but someday when the two of you are ready. If that was truly his intention, great, and more power to you.
However, if he thought that shiny diamond or cubic zirconia was a perfect placeholder for making you happy for a minute, I hate to tell you, but that's definitely not the point.
Sure, you'll be happy for a while, being all starry-eyed and dreamy over the future, but what happens when the newness wears off and you go back to fighting? The purpose of that ring is not to match your Insta aesthetic or to impress your friends, or pretend that you're engaged now.
You realize he could just as easily take back that promise, right?
Call me bitter all you want, and truthfully I'm writing this piece to bring myself back to reality about my own gifts from my boyfriend, but it's true. People don't consider the intent behind promise rings before buying them anymore, simple as that.
It's not just for Insta.
It's not just for show.
There is a purpose behind them, and that purpose most certainly is not to duct tape a relationship that is surely falling apart, anyway.
Sorry, not sorry.