3 Ways To Prevent Online Dating Burnout
By We Love Dates. Posted on .
At the beginning, online dating is exciting. We log in to our dating inbox with butterflies in our stomach, hoping to hear from every eligible bachelor within a 50 mile radius on the site. We take time crafting the perfect, flirty but not slutty responses and before each real life meeting, we think, "This could be the ONE."
Fast forward a month, six months, a year and the excitement is gone. When you're a seasoned online dater, you no longer check your inbox with a stomach full of butterflies-instead, you're simply checking one more "to do" off of your list. Rather than being hopeful you'll receive messages from hot, successful, local men who want to meet and date you, you simply hope that your inbox is free of sex propositions, crazy people, and players.
More from YourTango: 5 Places To Meet a Guy On Halloween
You've got a bad case of online dating burnout. Although sometimes the best remedy is to shut down your profiles all together (temporarily, of course!) there are other things you can do to put the magic back in to your online dating experience.
1. Don't neglect your real world. When you're first getting started, a five hour gchat session with a hot stranger who lives across town is exhilarating! It's a slipperly slope though because soon, most of your free time might be eaten up by texting, chatting and talking to men you don't know. Hang up the phone and close the laptop and unplug for awhile. Meet your best friend for coffee, go shoe shopping, lay around and watch reality t.v, no judgement here! No matter what you do, ust make sure it has nothing to do with online dating!
2. Manage your expectations. One of the most difficult things about online dating, hell-dating in general, is the disappointment that comes along with it. You know how it is-you meet a guy online, he seems perfect, you have a few mindblowing conversations where you discover that you have OMG so much in common, you get your hopes up and begin to invest your feelings...and when you meet in real life you realize that he's not the one you were looking for. It's great to have a positive outlook and hope for the best, but it's critical that you manage your expectations from the get go. Remind yourself that until you've met someone in person, you don't know them at all. Holding your feelings back at the beginning can save you a lot of hurt and disappointment in the end.
More from YourTango: 3 Ways To Break Out Of Your Relationship Rut
3. Don't take it so seriously. The world will not end if you don't respond to every message or wink you get within a day. Guys who wrote to you won't forget they did, they won't all fall in love while you're away from the computer. Online dating is just one way you are putting yourself out there in an attempt to find love, but it's not the only thing you've got going. No matter how much money you pay a dating site, there is no guarantee that you'll find your match, so relax.
The key is that when online dating starts to feel like something you have to do versus something you want to do, it's time to take a step back. It's dating, and no matter what anyone says, dating should be fun.
