Here's a tactic that could throw a monkey wrench into your relationship and dating situation: If you are holding onto your current partner while at the same time searching for and reaching out to possible new partners, you may be doing what's been dubbed “monkey-barring” or “monkey-branching” in the dating world.

It's earned the monkey-barring moniker because that's kind of what you do when traversing a set of monkey bars. You keep holding on to one bar until you have securely grabbed and swung over to another one. It's been called monkey-branching because monkeys do the same when swinging from one tree branch to another to avoid falling splat onto the ground.

One big reason why you may be doing the monkey-barring thing is that you don't want to fall splat into, gasp, singlehood. Yep, monkey-barring is one way of jumping straight from one relationship to another with no gap in between. That may seem desirable if being single is singularly frightening to you and being in a relationship—maybe any relationship—seems infinitely better than being by yourself. Notice the word "seem" inserted twice here.

Or perhaps, you are monkey-barring to bypass all the heartache and pain that you inevitably feel between relationships. Monkey-barring can seem like a great way to fast-forward through the breakup, recover, get back in the dating scene, get frustrated with the dating scene, and finally find someone else stages. Once again, the operative word here is "seem."

You could also subscribe to the belief that it's seemingly easier to find someone else when you still have someone, rather than when you are in the "OMG, I need a partner because I am so lonely" state of mind. It may........

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