This is a strange time in history to be
dating during Covid-19.
Not only
is it nearly impossible to meet other singles because of the “stay home” order,
but when you do run into them at the essential places like the grocery store,
all you can see are a pretty set of eyes staring back at you thanks to the
masks we’re all encouraged to wear.
Talk about blind dating taken
to a whole new level.
If
you’re single and desiring a relationship, I know this can be a discouraging
time for you. You feel like time is ticking
and every day of quarantine seems like another stolen opportunity for you to
meet and interact with someone that could be a potential partner.
If
you’ve followed my relationship advice blog, you know that I am all about
taking time to get to know someone during the stage of dating and letting each season of the relationship unfold naturally. But what happens when those
seasons sort of blend together, or when you can’t even recognize them at all
because your human contact has diminished by 99.999%?
DATING DURING COVID-19
For
those of you in the world of dating right now, I want to offer you a few bits
of encouragement for dating during Covid-19:
USE THIS TIME TO WORK ON
YOURSELF.
The main
message at HeartPrints Planet is that healthy people make healthy relationships. One of the
BEST ways to set yourself up for dating success is by taking inventory of your
personal health during this time. Human beings are magnetic, and
we tend to attract and be drawn to people who are similar to us emotionally and
spiritually. If you want to increase your odds of finding a good match, the best
thing you can do for yourself right now is to work on you. There’s no better
time to do it. Take inventory of your emotional and spiritual health, and be
active in taking steps to get to the next level.
Another important piece to this puzzle is to
really get to know yourself because finding a good match is like putting a
puzzle together. You have to know yourself in order to know what
kind of person fits – or doesn’t fit – into your life. So use this
time to get healthy from the inside out, and then keep your radar on for
someone who has done the same.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ONLINE
PLATFORMS:
In a
recent survey I conducted, one of the top 3 ways currently married people found
their partner was thanks to the world of online dating websites and apps. All this to
say, people are using online platforms more than ever before, and with the stay
at home orders, the online dating world has seen an increase in numbers of
people.
FOCUS ON BUILDING
FRIENDSHIPS.
Too many
times, people rush into relationships and skip that important step. This is a
great time to take inventory of your circle of friends or acquaintances, and
ask yourself if there’s anyone of the opposite sex who might be worth getting
to know a little bit better, building a friendship in a deliberate way.
Thanks
to technology, we have the opportunity to continue building friendships, but it
takes being intentional and deliberate! Sometimes we
miss people who could be a great match because we’ve put them in the “friend”
category, when really, friends are the ones who make the absolute best lifelong
companions because a strong marriage is always founded in a strong friendship.
KEEP YOUR BOUNDARIES
INTACT.
It’s
easy to let your boundaries slide when you start to feel desperate; to let
people into your life, or engage in conversations you wouldn’t normally if you
were feeling like yourself. Add to that technology being
the primary mode of interaction right now, and you’ll notice that your guard
isn’t as high as it normally is.
With
a lack of face to face interactions, there can also be a lack of emotional
boundaries that begins sneaking into your interactions. But
this is a crucial time to keep your boundaries intact because boundaries are
what keep you healthy and keep your relationships strong.
Protect your heart emotionally, by being
cautious with your interactions with the opposite sex and making sure you’re
not letting someone in too deep, too soon. Trust is something that has to be
built over time, and as easy as it might be to rush an interaction right now,
it’s of utter importance that you take your time. No one ever
regretted giving themselves too much time to get to know someone, only the
opposite.
We
might be in a unique time in history right now trying to do dating during
Covid-19, but friends – it won’t last forever. For now,
let’s make the most of this time by seeing it as a chance to get better both
personally and in our relationships, rather than simply get by.
Use this
time to come up with a plan and ask the Lord to help you get to the next level
emotionally and spiritually. Because the healthier you are,
the healthier your relationships will be. Guaranteed.