I think having crushes, if you also have self-control, can actually prevent cheating and strengthen a relationship by opening lines of communication about what you want out of your current romantic situation. Loyst and Boodram agree that having a crush can reveal things about ourselves and things about our partners that we may take for granted or forgot about because they don’t know how to load a dishwasher or they leave their socks on the ground. If you examine who you’re crushing on and why, you might learn something. Like, when I was crushing on a friend of a friend, an artist with a posh accent and a questionable sense of style, I learned to appreciate my partner’s understated athleisure even more. In comparison to my crush’s gaudy clothes, my man seemed pretty fashionable. “It might just be something that's playful and fun,” Lost says. “The person that you find yourself crushing on is — if you actually stop to reflect on it — nothing like a person you would ever want to be in a relationship with.”