Dating after a breakup can be more than a little intimidating. No matter how much experience you’ve had with the dating game prior to your long-term relationship, you’ve been out of the swing of things for a while and need to take it slow to get back into the swing of things. While you’re walking the single side, keep these things in mind when planning your next date.
Keep these four reasons to take it easy in mind and your next few dates should be a great success.
1) Rebuilding trust takes a little time. When your long-term relationship ended, your trust probably took a hit. It’s not easy to admit that you couldn’t make it work (even if you were the one who canceled things) for yourself or anyone else. By taking it easy, you’re giving yourself a chance to regain your jogging and confidence one date at a time instead of going all in to find you’re in very deep water with no sign of shore.
2) Love doesn’t happen instantly (at least not very often). There are some that could be a good argument in favor of love at first sight. The rest of us have discovered that love takes a bit of time to build and resolve. If you throw yourself into love, you may quickly discover that it is purely chemical. Chemistry can be great, but not when you’re in a vulnerable state. Unfortunately for you, the first few dates after a breakup find you in a vulnerable state.
3) Avoid the bouncing roller coaster. Rebound relationships can suck all the joy out of your future dating prospects. No one wants to be in a rebound relationship, and yet many people find that they are almost unable to avoid it. We want to recapture that intimacy, emotional and physical, that was lost when the relationship ended and we plunged too quickly into the next relationship. It’s a recipe for heartbreak and could prolong your road to recovery.
4) Your heart may not be keeping up with your brain. While your head may be convinced that you need to get out there and start dating again, your heart may not be ready to take the plunge. Don’t push your heart into something you’re not really ready for. It takes time to recover from the loss of a long-term lover and friend. If they were so easily replaced, we wouldn’t appreciate them as much.