Making it Happen: Dates vs Dating

Oh there is a difference.  I was listening to This Week in Mormons this afternoon with my roommate, and one of the guys who runs the podcast made a very true observation.  He said that he noticed that many of his "mid-single" guy friends (31-40 years old) are single because they go on dates with girls but never date girls (and definitely don't date a girl).

Now, you may be wondering what the difference between going on dates and dating is... never fear, that is what I'm here for, to explain confusing language nuances.  It's pretty simple really, if you go on dates with girls (or guys) this means that you go out a lot, with lots of people, maybe once, maybe twice, but that's it.  If you are dating girls (or guys) it implies that you are narrowing down the search and you're focusing on a couple people, going on multiple dates.  And if you date a girl ( or a guy), you've picked one person to spend your time with.

 

Finding that one person you want to spend your life with is hard to do. But you know what makes it harder? Not actually getting to know anyone. 

You can't know if someone is that someone after one date, or two.  So, give people a real chance, just to see. Girls, give guys a fair shot.  And guys, give the various ladies in your life a real shot. Don't be a serial one-dater.  You're not going to find someone special by flipping though people like flipping TV channels.  Sometimes you need to pause and pay attention.

And remember this: First dates are terrible indicators of a person.  On a first date both of you are trying really hard to be impressive.  Trying that hard and being that nervous never comes off as attractive.