Ideas for you if you decide you ARE ready to start dating.
From December 4, 2018
Christine Baumgartner, a widow and professional dating and relationship coach provides an ongoing blog addressing the needs of widowers and their families as they try to adjust to the challenges of entering new relationships. Visit her blog at ThePerfectCatch.com and and read her bio here.
My last post talked about “How to know if you’re ready to start dating”. If you think you might be ready to start meeting women (and maybe even dive into the dating world), today’s post is for you.
Ideas for you to start dating
Let’s talk about some steps you can take to put yourself in places where women can be found.
TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS.
Tell them you’re ready to date and ask if they know any single women they could introduce you to. Meeting someone through a friend’s referral can be very helpful.
JOIN A FEW MEETUP GROUPS.
If you don’t know about meetup.com, it’s a website filled with local activities. You can join for free. It asks for your zip code, the number of miles you’re willing to travel, and the activities you enjoy. You’re then provided with a list of activities in your area. A few recommendations:
- Attend several different kinds of meetups. Go to each one at least two or three times. Then, pick one or two that you enjoy.
- If you don’t find the right meetup group for you, keep searching. New meetups get formed every day.
- You could also consider starting one, if that appeals to you.
LOOK FOR VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES.
This has multiple benefits. (1) You’ll be giving back to your community, and that can be a great feeling. (2) Focusing on others who need your support can help you get out of your own head for a while. (3) There are usually lots of women who are part of volunteer organizations. A few examples of organizations:
- Animal shelter
- Your local library (tutoring, reading to children, fundraising, book sales)
- Help stuff envelopes for a good cause
- Your local theater (build scenery, ticket taking, fundraising)
- Children’s sports (coaching, promoting)
TAKE A CLASS.
Sign up for a class that interests you. Some ideas:
- Dancing is a wonderful option. Whether you have two left feet or are an accomplished dancer (or somewhere in between) most dance studios are definitely looking for more men to even out the number of women students.
- How about an art class, such as pottery, oil painting, or water color?
- Cooking classes can be great. Students are often partnered during the cooking process. Because more women tend to take cooking classes, it’s likely you’ll get paired with a woman. Additionally, once you take a few classes and develop some cooking specialties, you can make great points with women by cooking for them.
- Join a book club. These are often filled with women. My female clients have definitely welcomed men into their clubs.
Let me know what you think of these suggestions. Also, if you have suggestions of your own, send them my way. I love learning new ideas to pass along to other widowers.
