Are You Ready to Date?

This may seem like a silly question to ask yourself but it is a necessary question and even more important to answer it honestly.  Dating requires a lot of time and effort and should not feel like a burden or a chore. This means that you have to decide that you have space in your life to date and even more, that you have space in your life for someone, if that person comes along.

There is no set time to wait after a breakup to begin dating, however, it is important not to start dating if you have not taken the time to reconnect with yourself and have at least partially healed. The reason this is so important is if you jump right back into dating before you are regained some of the space back after a breakup, you may inflict unnecessary pain onto someone else or yourself.

A good way to gauge if you are dating for the right reasons are if you are fine being alone. If you are able to think of your ex in a positive way, positive memories and feel excitement of the possibility of finding someone to spend time with, these are good indicators. 

What this means is, are you able to present yourself as the authentic you and comfortable with you really are? There is no point to starting to date if you are not comfortable presenting the authentic you. Being accepting of yourself as you are it vital to finding suitable people to date.  

If you feel that you want to try to start dating, it's perfectly acceptable to take baby steps. Try going out with a small group is this is more comfortable and if you find that you are focusing on your ex then it's just a sign that you aren't quite ready. Be sure that if this happens you don't beat yourself up over it, it takes time and make sure you give yourself credit for both trying and for recognizing that you aren't ready.