a lot of people seem to have different views of exactly what it is, and how acceptable it is to them. What does it mean to you, and is it something you'd ever consider? Reasons for or against?
I'm trying to get over issues with jealousy and such, stuff that's all rooted in my own insecurities. I lack pretty much all confidence in myself and any relationship I'm in, so it's a challenge to not feel somehow inadequate or you know...whatever. I'm not sure if I could give my all to multiple relationships though, or if I'd feel spread too thin? I know from experience and I can only focus on a single person for the most part and when others are involved it's sort of overwhelming. Going from a longterm "real" monogomous relationship to semi-broken up open relationship type thing is really my only experience with this and I know that I had to let go of a lot of my feelings for him in order to not be so hurt when he showed interest in other people. It's a lovely idea though, I'm just not sure how compatible it is with my own personality.
I'm married and polyamorous, currently with one lover in addition to my wife. My wife has a lover as well, and both of our lovers are in long-term primary relationships. Polyamory may be loosely defined as "ethical non-monogamy." Basically, to me it means being open to having multiple loving, sexual relationships, with full disclosure to and the approval of everyone involved. In other words, if you have more than one lover and your agreements with them allow you to have other lovers, that's polyamory. Extra credit if they all know each other and they each support your relationships with the others. If you have more than one lover and they don't know you're doing that, it's cheating and not polyamory.
Polyamory has been defined as the philosophy and practice of loving more than one person at a time with honesty and integrity. I myself am into this. It has never really caused me any problems. Its not for everyone and if you feel uncomfortable dont even go there. Its about trust, same with any relationship if the other person doesnt know its cheating. Its just with polyamory you let them know and they are cool with it.
