If you’re so busy trying to balance it all that you find it hard to even make time to scarf down a tuna sandwich at midday, you may feel like wading out of the dating pool is your only option.
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While this certainly is a viable choice, it’s likely not the best one. Eventually, your life will slow down. You’ll reach your career goals and finally trade some of your workload for leisure time and when you do, you’ll find yourself with no one with whom to share it. Yes, being super busy does add a wrinkle of complexity to your dating life. Fortunately, you’re pretty amazing at all things, so you can almost certainly handle this as well with the application of a few tricks and tips.
1. Try Online Dating
If you’ve been seriously seeking a romantic partner, you’re likely to have already tried to click and scroll your way into someone’s heart. If you haven’t, however, doing so is a great option.
Yes, you can take your Friday night and go out to a bar, drinking overpriced cosmos and leaning against the wall just so to make yourself look irresistible, but let’s face it, that’s just messing around; particularly if you are looking for more of a happily-ever-after than a that-was-a-nice-fling. Connecting to like-minded love seekers online helps you make the most of the finite time you have earmarked for this item of your To-Do list.
2. Be Choosey
Avoid going out with someone who you have in your “maybe” column. While it is true that he might turn out to be a stellar guy who just doesn’t open up for a date or two, or could use some professional-level copy-editing on his profile, you honestly just don’t have the time to figure that out.
You almost certainly wouldn’t pursue a business venture that had minimal odds of success just because it might turn out to be that one-in-a-million surprise, so don’t make that mistake in your dating life either.
3. Select Short Dates
Going out to dinner, the dating option of choice that probably dates back to caveman years is not only a bit antiquated, it takes a lot of time. When planning dates early in the relationship, selecting a shorter option, like a quick lunch, a mid-afternoon coffee or an after-work drink allows you the opportunity to see your would-be love more frequently without actually finding more hours and minutes in your schedule.
4. Share Your Struggles
Many on-the-go daters run into relationship issues when they start canceling dates to accommodate the demands of their busy schedules. Though no one likes to receive a date cancellation phone call while they’re in front of the mirror trying to tie that perfect double Windsor, doing so isn’t as jarring if they were warned that cancellations might happen.
If you know going into the relationship that the rigors of your job may require you to stand your sweetie up from time to time, let him know this going into it. When you share your struggles, be as specific as you can. If you can help him see why it might happen, you may make it easier for him to handle the occasional plan-changes without getting his feelings hurt.
5. Exercise Flexibility
If you’re perpetually busy, you likely have to be flexible in all aspects of your life and dating is no exception. Whenever you can, try to modify your plans instead of cancelling them all together.
If, for example, you get a project dumped in your lap at five in the evening with a demand that you return it finished by eight the next morning, you likely won’t have time to check out that action movie you planned to see. This doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything with your romantic partner, however.
Even if you can only scrape together 15 minutes or so to dedicate to him, offering up this time can help him see that you aren’t trying to avoid him. If you can show him that you do sincerely want to see him, you can re-affirm his belief that you really do care.
