Chemistry is that initial rush at the beginning of the romance. It’s such a passionate, quick, and powerful feeling that it’s easy to confuse chemistry with compatibility.

While chemistry is what initially attracts you to someone, compatibility is looking beyond that initial stage of attraction and evaluating the way you align with someone else’s lifestyle choices and values.

Chemistry and compatibility don’t always overlap. You might feel those passionate feelings of chemistry with someone yet ultimately lack compatibility.

However, compatibility is an essential part of an intimate and long-term partnership. Paying attention to how compatible you are with someone helps you decide if you want to be in a long-term relationship with them.

What Chemistry Looks Like

Chemistry is that initial, passionate spark you feel at the beginning of a romance.
You might feel the chemistry when you have so much in common with someone that it gives you butterflies before dinner. You’re attracted to their physical appearance, their accomplishments, their career, or even the conversations you have with them.

The feelings that come from chemistry are so strong that it’s easy to confuse chemistry with compatibility.

It’s common to feel most comfortable choosing partners based on chemistry. Having chemistry with someone else is exciting. But choosing partners only based on chemistry might cause you to overlook how compatible you are with that person’s lifestyle choices and values.

What Compatibility Looks Like

Compatibility looks beyond the initial stage of attraction. Compatibility means evaluating how a person will fit into your everyday life and if there is long-term potential as a couple. Compatibility means looking at if you align with a person, their lifestyle choices, and their values.

Gauging compatibility starts with knowing what you want in a long-term partner.

Here are questions you can ask yourself to decide if you are compatible with someone else:

1. How does the person you’re dating deal with their feelings? How do they handle anger, stress, and sadness?

2. How does this person act when around their friends, family, or at a restaurant?

3. What are the values that guide this person’s life (such as marriage, children, politics, religion)? Do those values align with your own? If not, do you accept that?

4. What goals do you have in life? Does the person that you’re dating share those same goals?

Figuring out whether or not you’re compatible with someone doesn’t mean that you deal with everything in the same way. It just means evaluating how well a person fits into your everyday life in the long run.

When you learn to ask yourself these questions about compatibility, you can build a relationship on shared values and deep mutual respect. Choosing a partner based on compatibility helps build a relationship that lasts through the hardest times.

Here are 5 signs that you’re compatible in your relationship:

1. There is mutual respect.

2. You accept your partner as they are and admire them for it. You don’t spend your time wishing they would do anything differently.

3. Your partner accepts you for who you are and doesn’t try to change you.

4. You and your partner uplift each other and validate each other’s perspectives.

5. You share similar lifestyle choices and goals.

Dating is tricky. Compatibility and chemistry don’t always go hand in hand.

When you’re dating someone, it’s important to think about how well a person fits into your life. Gauging compatibility means digging deeper beyond initial attraction and surface-level interests.

Chemistry is what pulls two people together. Compatibility is what will help the relationship last when the initial spark fades and reality sets in.

When you learn to look for how compatible you are with someone else, you will have an easier time deciding whether or not you are a good match.