Relational Dialecticical Tensions

I am currently dating my high school sweetheart; we were young and not as mature as we are now so at the time that we started dating I did not evaluate our relationship in terms of immediate and forecasted rewards and cost. However, looking back at the relationship and based on the social exchange theory delineated in chapter nine of the text, there were some apparent rewards and costs at the start of the relationship that have since evolved and changed over the course of the relationship to how they are to this day. In addition, in the relationship there has been an increase of relational dialectical tensions that can be challenging but ultimately can be worked on for improvement. The rewards, costs, and dialectical tensions can all be considered when assessing my current relationship.
As the text reads, immediate rewards and cost occur in the present moment, while forecasted rewards and costs are based on prediction (BB&R 270). At the start of the relationship, the immediate reward was that my crush liked me back and we were happy with one another in the “puppy love stage”, as some may call it. Since I
I am typically unaware of these rewards and costs but I think I am more aware of them at the end of a relationship. For example, I evaluated my relationship with an old high school best friend and from there I decided to end the friendship because the ratio was no longer working in our favor. After being friends for years, we had developed a rewarding level of trust but after facing distance due to attending different colleges I began to realize that we shared different values and outlooks on life. While I was more focused on school, she was more focused on partying and nightlife. The magnitude of the costs was too significant in comparison to that of the rewards so I stopped viewing the friendship as beneficial and we eventually separated