Dating Diaries 16: Go For It! (Or, Wasting Time?)

UMM . . .  not really sure how to respond!!


A guy recently messaged me his concerns about people in his church, and another guy tells me "hanging out with friends used to be cool until everyone became infectious.” 


I didn’t want to judge or label these guys (as grumpy . . . though it seemed like they were!), but even their profile pictures seemed to look like it was painful for them to smile. Yikes!


As I asked a couple of friends if I should go out with the first guy who seemed pretty critical ("in the spirit of learning, and being open, and practicing!" I had said), although they had left the choice up to me, I sensed their hesitation. 


"Um, what do you think you would get out of it?" one friend gently asked. 


"Do you think it would be fun?" another questioned. Good point!


"I would imagine you could find enough non- critical guys to practice with," another girl hedged. And she was right. So far, I’ve had all good experiences and have met some really cool guys!


Okay, okay, I decided not to go out with him. 


So, how do I know when I SHOULDN’T go for something? 


There’s probably not one right answer that fits all situations, but as I thought about it, I knew that I wanted to get a lot of GOOD experiences in dating. And while bad experiences are somewhat inevitable, why would I purposely walk into one? 


There’s definitely a time for risking it, but I have to have SOMETHING that pulls me forward. Something positive to go on. Otherwise, it may not only be a waste of time, but something that sets me BACK a few steps in my interest in dating. 


One of the purposes of dating, in addition to being a learning experience, is to have fun! So, if I think that going out with a certain guy would not be fun, I'm probably going to avoid it. 


I decided not to go out with the “everyone’s infectious” guy too. I mean, I couldn’t really find one positive thing he said in our chatting conversation. 


I want to “go for it” and put myself out there, but hopefully, I am starting to get better at recognizing when something is worth giving a try . . . and when it’s not. 


Growing in awareness, but still taking risks!!

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