‘Rough Patch’ vs ‘Relationship Chicken’
Marshall: If they can’t stand each other, why don’t they end it?
Ted: Neither one wants to be first. They’re playing relationship chicken.
Disclaimer : I really love HIMYM and I am actually re-watching episodes from the 5 seasons when I have the time to, so bear with my random quotes/reviews of the episodes. 
I think in ‘How I Met Your Mother” season 5, Barney and Robin’s relationship was mainly to satirize everything couples go through – from the mushy stage to hating each other’s guts. The episode mentioned the term ”relationship chicken” which refers to the situation when neither person wants to admit the relationship isn’t working out. On the other hand, Lily pointed out that all couples go through the ‘rough patch’ – getting used to each other and understanding each other better.
So when do you know you’re being ‘relationship chicken(s)’ or just going through a ‘rough patch’ in a relationship ? If there are times when you feel unhappy about everything – but that not exactly bad enough to kill the relationship – are you just undergoing this so-called rough patch? Or are you playing the ‘relationship chicken’ by refusing to see the depth of the problems and brushing it off as it is probably just the usual lows that couples go through and that you should be working out over? When do you know you should hold on to that faith in the relationship ?
Sometimes you have 3rd parties who comment (be it knowing the details, or not) and you stop to ponder if they have a ‘clearer view’ over the situation than the deluded self you’re being. In chinese, there’s a saying that goes ‘當局者迷，旁觀者清’ which roughly means ‘the onlooker sees more of the game’. However, I think it is really up to the two parties involved to actually see for themselves for what they truly are. Like Barney and Robin, both of them were starting to lose themselves and you could tell that they were unhappy – even if they seem to be happy in each other’s companionship. They were better off as friends – and the breakup ? We know that it was not the end but just returning back to how it has always been for them – friends.
Would that be possible to happen in reality ? Does it really means happiness when Barney returned to say ‘Daddy’s home.’ ? (Of course in later episodes, we see that Barney isn’t entirely truly happy after returning to his old single self.) It’s really kind of hard to tell isn’t it ?
