Funnily enough I was actually talking to someone from work about this last week whilst we were talking about our relationships.
Personally I think sex should never be underestimated in a relationship, ultimately the only differen between 2 close friends and a couple is the sexual side of things (fidelity, kissing etc) and although you mentioned you will have some sexual contact in other ways, ultimately there is a certain type of intimacy that only comes with sex. To me, this is essential for a healtyh relationship otherwise, without that intimacy I feel like I get to a sort of glass ceiling. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently because I’ve been thinkign about my relationship with my current gf quite a bit recently as it feels we’ve lost a lot of our intimacy and tbh – this is ultimately why I think. Because the sex life has gone down hill.
