So you’ve made it past the small talk. Now what?

“Hi, how’s your day?”
“How’s your weekend going?”
“What are your plans for this weekend?”

They’re all polite, familiar, and easy to ask, but they usually end the same way.

So, you’ve got the right mindset. Now where do you actually meet people?

When people ask me where to meet someone, the assumption is usually that the right location is the missing piece.

One minute you’re planning your weekend together, the next you’re dissecting text messages like a detective looking for clues to answer: What went wrong? What did I miss? Could this have gone differently?

Sometimes, life just happens to us. You hop in your car, maybe put the GPS on, and before you know it, you’re pulling into your parking spot without remembering a single turn you took.

You may have heard the advice: “You have to be a whole person before you can be in a relationship.”

It’s usually delivered with the confidence of a universal truth (like the kind of advice that sounds deep, but rarely gets examined).

Maybe they were attentive over text and made plans regularly, but deeper conversations never really happened.

Have you ever felt close to someone, but emotionally “out of sync”?

Emotional maturity is often misunderstood.

It doesn’t mean being calm all the time or never getting upset.

While dating can be exciting and full of possibility, I’ve also felt like it was an endless, hopeless job search — thrilling at times, but exhausting if you're not careful.

Online dating can feel like navigating uncharted waters — exciting, but full of unknowns. Learn practical tips to protect yourself, screen matches, and date with confidence.