If you’re divorced, or have ended a long-term relationship, well-meaning relatives and friends may encourage you to start dating again soon.
But how will you know when you're ready for a new relationship?
Warren, I was in a long-term relationship for many years, and it ended about six months ago.
While no breakup is ever completely “pleasant,” I feel like it was for the best. Thanks, Josh in Phoenix, AZ Answer Dear Josh, Thank you for writing in with your question.
But how do you know when you’re ready to move on and date again?
With the rules of the dating game having changed since you last played, where and how do you even begin? O’Reilly and Tebb share their suggestions on how to navigate those uncharted dating waters for those who are little rusty and want to try again.
“It helped, because I got to see what 'normal' looked like,” Roché says.
Here's the problem with that: Dating so much left little time for me to do the three things I actually needed to do before jumping into a new relationship: heal, process, and grow.
It bolstered my confidence for dating.” Claudia Barnett needed some alone time to heal before seeking a new relationship.
“Your marriage has died; you need to grieve that loss,” Barnett says.
The first thing people can do is to allow themselves to feel sad, angry, hurt, betrayed, jealous, insecure — to really sit in and lean into those negative emotions because when we acknowledge them, we can start to reconcile them and come to terms with them, get over them and move on from them.”“After a breakup, I think you need to do a dating detox and just work on yourself and self-assess,” adds matchmaker and dating expert Shannon Tebb.
“Plan a weekend getaway with friends and just focus on you for a while.”And it’s that time you take for yourself that will help you move onto the next stage, O’Reilly and Tebb say.