Hitting The Online Dating Wall

If you've ever dabbled in online dating, you've absolutely hit the online dating wall at least once or twice. It's inevitable. After a few months on a dating site, the excitement of getting emails every day from aspiring boyfriends has long since worn off. You've likely gone on a few dinner dates and perhaps found, le sigh, you've got zero chemistry with any of these people. And eventually you start to feel like there's no point in even opening that message from "bigboy69" because, let's be real, it's just going to say something dumb.

Trust me guys, I am well aware of what it feels like to be in this place. I have hit the online dating wall many, many times. And in the past, I've always just cancelled my subscription and prayed that I'd start meeting people in the real world sometime soon. As you well know, that's worked out swimmingly

So this last time, upon deciding that quitting isn't the most awesome strategy, I decided to switch things up. Instead of cancelling my Match subscription, I decided to get creative with some new tactics. And ya know what, I just met a pretty cool guy (but I'll write more about that once I see how that goes).

Now you're likely wondering what these effective creative tactics were. Well I'm glad you asked. Below are my new tips on how to cope with hitting the online dating wall "without" just throwing in the towel.

SEARCH WITH A FRIEND - It is easy to grow fatigued after looking through so many profiles and, eventually, you may to find that every dude just starts to look the same. When this happens to me, I find myself scrolling without really looking, and I am obviously never going to notice a cool guy if I am not at least paying attention!

So if this happens to you, bring a friend over to peruse with you. They can point out fellows you may have overlooked or laugh with you at the insanity that is some profiles. They can also help you with the people you are on the fence about by telling you when you are being dumb or when you would be settling. Plus, if you do happen to like a guy you found while browsing with your friend, that'll make for a fun story.

SWITCH UP THE SITE - I know awhile back I wrote about free online dating sites and I wasn't so into them. However, upon hitting my most recent online dating wall, I decided to give OKCupid just one more chance. I mean heck, one of my closest friends is marrying someone she met on there - perhaps I should be a bit more open minded.

The good thing is, being on a new site is always exciting at first. New people, new site features, lots of fun questions to answers So I dove in and let's just say I am glad I did. The aforementioned new guy was someone I met on the site.

RE-DO YOUR OWN PROFILE - Maybe you haven't attracted anyone you are interested in because of what you've put out. I'm not saying that anything you wrote was wrong, but perhaps switching it up will attract the type of guy you would be more interested in responding too. It obviously couldn't hurt to try.

START RESPONDING TO PEOPLE - Online dating is never going to get more exciting if you are ignoring every message. And while I'll never be one to recommend responding to a guy you know you could never like, I do think it can help you get out of your dating funk to give someone a chance. Even if it doesn't work out with that guy, just getting back into the whole "responding" act may open new opportunities for you. Take my sister as an example. Mini Bradshaw has been testing the waters of online dating for a few months now and was just about to throw in the towel when she agreed to go on one more date. And while she didn't actually like that guy at all (she in fact referred to him as an "uber goober") she did run into another guy she knew on her way to the bathroom. And now, she's got a date planned with that fine gentleman.

CHANGE YOUR SEARCH PARAMETERS- Perhaps you've been way to picky and you need to be a bit more open in your searches. Just like in the real world, sometimes you gotta ditch the checklist.

"OR" maybe you are being a bit too open and it is time to be a bit more specific. It gets depressing to scroll through page after page without seeing a single guy who catches your eye. So give your eyes a break and try being picky.

MOCK PEOPLE'S DORKY PROFILES VIA FB UPDATES, TWEETS AND BLOG POSTS - Ok so you haven't found a love connection just yet, but you "have" to admit, there are some good laughs to be had from reading peoples; profiles. So while you are waiting for someone awesome to come along, feel free to share the humorous anecdotes with your closest friends (and/or everyone on the internet). It makes everything seem a little less serious.

SEARCH OTHER CITIES - So there aren't any smart, nice, hotties in your city? Good news, there are a ton of other cities. When I was bored a few weeks ago my friend convinced me to start looking at guys in SF. Oh holy heck, there were some adorable guys there. And no, I am not moving to SF, nor am I interested in starting up some sort of long distance relationship, but it sure was fun to imagine. Seeing the cuties in SF reminded me that I have not, in fact, dated every guy in the world, and that I don't need to give up hope just yet.

TAKE A BREAK - If all else fails, don't keep hitting your head against a wall. You don't want to be at that point where you are forcing yourself to go on dates and are repelling guys with your "nothing ever works out!" attitude. The truth is, while you don't want to give up at the first sight of the online dating wall, there are going to be times where no amount of tips or tricks will change how you are feeling. At those times, taking a short break may be just what the doctor ordered. And who knows, maybe you'll have better luck than I out in the real world.

Source: mark-rayan-pua.blogspot.com