#NerdsUnite: Relationship Lessons You Can Learn From "How I Met Your Mother"

#TalkNerdyToMeLover’s L. Sanchez

Plenty of people tune into popular sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” for the laughs, but you might not realize that the show offers a few gems when it comes to relationship advice. Part the show’s charm is its imperfect characters who remind us of ourselves, and it’s through their bumbling romances that we also learn what not to do. So what can you learn from Barney and his crew?

1) Don’t Focus on Being Alone

This is Ted’s biggest mistake. As he’s looking for the so-called perfect woman, he spends too much time commiserating his loneliness. Yes, most of us want to be part of a couple, but he only makes himself miserable and drives his friends up a wall. The same drive also leads him to couple up with women who are obviously not right or him. Remember Jenifer Morrison’s character Zoey? She might have been cute, but she was also a basket case who made Ted’s life a living hell. What did he expect from a woman who routinely stole live animals and started things on fire in the name of activism?

Dating Lesson: Learn to be grateful and happy single. Don’t have unrealistic expectations but don’t settle because you’re lonely, either.

2) Sex Doesn’t Mean the Same Thing to Everyone, and That’s Okay

Through most of the series, Barney is unable to commit. He spends his life trying to land women, and he succeeds more often than not. Barney frequently breaks the hearts of the women that he sleeps with because he’s not honest about what he wants from them. He changes his ways when he falls for Ted’s ex, Robin, but the show plays off of the disparity between Ted’s unyielding desire to get married and Barney’s commitment phobia. You often see Barney sneaking out of bedrooms to avoid talking to his partners, while Ted appears desperate and silly as he looks for his future wife. It’s funny, but reinforces ideas that casual sex isn’t always right (or wrong) for everyone.

Dating Lesson: Casual sex isn’t necessarily bad if you’re honest, with yourself and your partner, about what you want. Some people are ready to meet “the one” and others aren’t.

3) Commitment Takes Hard Work

Perhaps the best relationship to emulate is that of Lily and Marshall, who eventually marry and have a child. They’ve stayed loyal to their vows and to one another, even in the face of financial woes, infertility, meddling family members and the death of a parent. Marshall once discovered that his lovely wife had a terrible credit score due to her shopping addiction, which resulted in the pair moving to a less-than-ideal home not far from a sewage plant because they couldn’t qualify for anything better.

Dating Lesson: While not perfect, the couple tries to look at the big picture, rather than letting the details get them down, and it seems to work for them.

The entire HIMYM gang is there when you need them for just about any dating lesson on the planet. With all the crazy things that happen to each character, you’re bound to find one you can identify with. That’s what makes this a must-see show for so many. If you haven’t seen “How I Met Your Mother” yet, you have time to catch up before the farewell season and can visit www.GetDirectTV.org to see what subscriptions are available to you.