Dating & Relationship Advice

Dating can be enjoyable and exciting but there are also potential pitfalls, like the risk of rejection, trying to decide whom to date, or how to discern between red flags and green ones. We can make it easier on ourselves by building an inner and outer dating support system, so that we are strong emotionally and we have people around us to cheer us on and offer sound advice.

Most people have specifications for the type of person they would like to date or marry, but I think it is even more important to make sure that you’re the kind of person someone would like to date or marry! To do this, you need to work on yourself. The truth is, we sometimes spend so much time noticing the shortcomings in potential partners’ characters and behaviours that we fail to notice that we also have shortcomings that could do with some work. Start to prepare for dating and marriage now to go into the future feeling confident and ready.

When was the last time you looked at your Christian Connection profile as others see it? However long you’ve been a member, it’s easy to forget the importance of first impressions. Your profile is your introduction to who you are and it’s worth taking the time to make sure it shows off all that is great about you! Thankfully it’s easy to boost your dating profile with a few quick changes – which can also boost your confidence about making new connections.

No matter the season, one thing can always be relied upon to interrupt of even the best-laid dating plans: unpredictable weather! But don’t worry if your picnic in the park has been subjected to a rain delay, the sun has sent you running for shade, or your planned romantic walk has been blown off track by blustery gales, it’s still possible to spend some quality time getting to know each other. Here are 6 great weatherproof date ideas that can go ahead no matter what the forecast predicts.

“I’ll start dating when I’m the perfect weight or shape, or when I’ve landed my ideal job, or when I’m perfectly healed emotionally.” If this sounds familiar and you’re delaying dating until you’re in a ‘perfect’ space, it might be time to let go of the fantasy of perfection and embrace progress instead. If you need some encouragement to get started, here’s a checklist that will give you the confidence and the motivation to let go of the ideal and embrace imperfect dating.

If we’ve been away from the dating scene for months or even years, it can be a challenge to start again. Maybe online dating feels like a minefield that we’re not equipped to navigate. Perhaps the process feels alien to us. Maybe we’re impatient to find love or doubtful that it’ll work out. Dating after a break can feel like a big step but there are many things we can do to make it easier.

One of the challenges of dating or starting a relationship is knowing how much personal information to disclose and at what point. It can be tempting to over-share or to hold things back. So, how do we strike a healthy balance? How can we avoid under- or oversharing in dating?

Trust is a very important issue in all of life, and that’s especially true in the online dating world. We message and arrange dates with people we’ve never met, we show up and spend time with a stranger and have to decide how things will develop from there. We have to be wise, savvy and make sure we are safe, and we need to know if we can or can’t trust someone for the long term. Dating is about opening up, telling people about yourself, being vulnerable – we can only do that if we truly trust someone, otherwise we will be guarded, have a barrier up and the dates will grind to a halt. But we also need to balance our boundaries and sensible self-protection. So how we can take those first impressions of someone new and grow trust while dating?