How to Meet Potential Mates
How do you meet new people to date? Do you default to online methods, or are you an in-person kind of soul?
These days it seems like online dating is everyone's go-to solution for meeting potential partners. Whether it's a dating website or an app, it's an easy option for many of us. But more and more I'm hearing that people are frustrated with the online world, and looking for other options, often turning back to the way we used to do things, before the technological age.
Luckily I grew up in the 80s and early 90s, before the internet, so I have some solid experinece with dating without apps or smartphones. (I even went the tele-personals route at one point - like online dating but with recorded voice messages. You think dating online is hard? Try doing it via the phone!)
Anyway, I have a few a few old-school ideas for you that are worth pulling out and polishing off because they do work. I'm also throwing some more current ideas into my suggestions for meeting potential mates:
Tell all your friends (and family) that you are ready to date and want to meet someone.
Accept blind dates.
Read Soul Mates and Twin Flames: The Spiritual Dimension of Love and Relationships by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, and do the meditations in the book.
Allow your friends to set you up.
Talk to people everywhere you go – in the elevator, gym, grocery store line-up, on the bus. Everywhere. You never know where things may lead.
Be open minded.
Go to parties and social events.
Try speed dating.
Pursue what you love – spend time on your passions and interests.
Join a club centred around an activity you love.
Smile at people as you go down the street.
Investigate dating services in your area, and join if they’re appealing and manageable.
Change up your walking route or grocery store once in a while.
Show an interest in other people.
Go to a singles event.
If you have a dog, take your dog to the dog park and chat with other dog owners you meet.
Write down all your negative thoughts and beliefs about why you think you won’t be able to meet someone, and then challenge them all! (see my Thought Series for how to do this).
If there is someone you know and like, ask them on a date.
Give up on dating because, as everyone knows, that’s when you meet “the one.” (Just kidding, although some people swear by this method.)
Make new friends. If you are a woman, make new female friends. You never know who has a brother, cousin, friend or ex who might be perfect for you.
It's really a numbers game. The more people you meet, the more you talk to the people you encounter in your daily life, the more dates you go on, the more likely you are to meet someone.
If you start doing things differently, things can't help but change. Life changes when you change. If you update or vary your approach to dating, you're going to get different results. Give it shot, after all, what have you got to lose?
