skoaner said:
Ad Comms should take into account significant, long lasting, interpersonal relationships. It takes a lot of time, energy, and work to maintin a relationship (marriage or otherwise) and this fact is often overlooked. Also, there are a lot of pre-meds who are 'too busy' to or just haven't had any sort of relationship. I find it hard to believe they are emotionally mature enough having never dealt with a lot of the things that go on in relationships.
I agree with you to some extent on this topic, i.e., your last statement. Those who have been involved in relationships tend to be more emotionally mature because they have ample experience respecting, compromising, and fulfilling the needs (emotional, physical, etc.) of a whole other person.
At the same time, however, I also disagree with your last statement because whether a person is "emotionally mature" enough depends on that person's potential or capacity to be
emotionally receptive of other people, i.e., a person's EQ, or emotional intelligence quotient. For example, I can imagine two people who have been together for a very long time, but their relationship may not be based on compassion or respect for each other at all. Maybe one is abusive (either physically, verbally, or both) towards the other, so the other person feels subjugated and does not know how to end the relationship. In this instance, both people are not necessarily "more emotionally mature" than the average person just because they have been together for a long time.
That is simply an example, but my point is whether a person is in a relationship does not necessarily determine how emotionally mature s/he is. I think it's the other way around, i.e., how much potential does that person have to become emotionally receptive to other people? We are all constantly reacting to our experiences, whether they include dealing with the challenges in a relationship, encountering personal failures, or coping with the death of a loved one, but however we react to that situation is different among all of us.
Furthermore, I think what determines how that person reacts is a person's
learning capacity, which, again, is different with each person. You can sit down with a person and teach him/her how to read nonverbal cues and be emotionally receptive of others (this is a component of empathy), but if s/he does not have the learning capacity for this part of empathy, that person may simply not ever "get it." Some people have either more of an
inherent capacity to be empathic or the
potential to become empathic. It just depends on the individual.
In addition, a very close family relationship or friendship may also involve the aspects of a romantic relationship, such as learning how to respect another's needs, be understanding, knowing how to relate to another person and tolerate his/her actions, and most importantly, learning how to effectively communicate with this other being in an emotionally sensitive and appropriate way. So again, I'm arguing that a romantic relationship is not the only type of relationship where a person may emotionally "flourish"; I think other close and healthy interpersonal relationships can suffice, too.
I will step off my soapbox now.
🙂 Hope this makes sense, and if it doesn't, feel free to fire back with your counterarguments!
