Hey there,

I agree with Heart in that the most important thing to consider is how do you feel about this? One of the things with people is that once the relationship is defined, it can be difficult to change the dynamic so even when her heart becomes open, she maybe too comfortable in your existing relationship to risk a romance.

Self love as the term indicates starts with ourselves. Most people have experienced pain in our lives and the journey of going from trauma to healing is a personal one. Though friends and family can be a comfort, it can also hold us back from moving on by being the sympathetic ear. Sometimes a heart needs to break before it opens and being the man in the relationship, you can try to encourage her to move forward rather than taking the safe road of being her friend. Again this comes down to what you want in the relationship because encouraging her to move forward means you are challenging her comfort zone and risk loosing what you have with her. Sadly there is no middle road because without friction there can be no heat. We are attracted to people who challenge us so we can be better rather than someone who enables our weakness.

An easy way to see whether this is the case is to think about how often have you two argued. If it is something that occurred rarely (or never), it means that you are in the friend zone.