Yeah, we all love a good love story where a boy meets a girl, they fall in love, and live happily ever after.
But do we ever really know if we’re ready to date? Even if we are, are our partners ready? Cause there would be no love story or happily ever after without dating unless you’re interested in the early African culture days when a girl gets betrothed to a person she’s never met or know.
There’s more to dating than waking up to morning romantic texts from your partner. If this is your perspective of what dating is, you may be in for a long unending heartbreak. Most people end up just flirting with people they could have to build a great thing with, and the dating apps just make it even easier to be a monogamist. Just one click after the other.
So before you go into a relationship, you might want to check if you’re ready to do some things — and to let go of some behaviors too.
Wanna know if you’re ready for dating? Here are some things you should look out for in yourself:
1. You become less interested in non-stop flirting.
While flirting is fun and with luck, you might just end up wooing the right person, you become indifferent about doing it incessantly and more focused on finding just that one person who makes the heart skip.
2. You are OK being alone, but you detest being single.
Being single can be quite a great thing, especially if you’re enjoying getting to know yourself better and chasing careers, but one who’s ready to date becomes bored of all these, not cause you to feel pressured or odd, but cause you just feel the urge to be with somebody you can feel complete with.
3. You let go of your past hurt.
I think one of the major things that always hold people back from getting back out there and finding someone to spend their life with is the fact that they’re still scarred from a previous relationship that went awry. Heartbreak is a bitch and I think we can all attest to that, but you are only ready to date again when you let go of that hurt to find love again.
4. You understand commitment.
A person who’s ready to date will be completely devoted to the relationship and the person they are seeing. They’d be determined to make sure that what they have isn’t just a fling but something real. They show up for dates even when they have schedules that would have to make them cancel just to impress their partner, they try by all means to change and let go of their ill behaviors, especially if these habits will be detrimental to their partner and relationship.
5. You’re not looking for someone who’d make you look good.
Some people have wild imaginations of the kinda partner they’re after. Someone who would boost their reputation in the neighborhood, make them look good among their friends, or who’s heavily loaded and wealthy. These things are the last thing you’d think of if you’re open to dating, as none of those would matter to you. Your utmost desire becomes finding someone who completely you, makes you laugh, and is down to earth for you.
6. You’re optimistic about it.
If you’re always looking towards how bad things might end up, then you should take a break from dating and access your priorities again.
One who is ready to date is always positive-minded and optimistic about what they can have together with them.
Come rain or shine, they always believe that with their partner they’d overcome anything.
7. You don’t seek validation from people.
Some people tend to be a victim of low self-esteem, they’re always seeking validation from others and judging their worth based on people’s perception, and it’s quite unhealthy.
Don’t try going into a relationship if you can’t find a solution to this issue as you’d just end up causing yourself heartbreaks.
A person ready to date never really pays attention to people’s judgment of them.
Their self-esteem is high, they know their value and worth, and wouldn’t let people’s intuition stop them from going after the partner they want.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Suzana Sousa on Unsplash