July Summer Lovin’ – Boost Your Dating Confidence

Here’s just some tips for boosting your dating confidence this summer:

1. Make peace and let go of old negative experiences.

Having a sense of self-renewal in the dating world is important. If we don’t let go of things, we end up comparing ourselves to others and that can eat away at our confidence (Morin, 2024).

2. Take care of your body. There’s an old saying of “perfect mind, body, and soul.”

If we don’t take care of one aspect of ourselves, we can get a chain reaction where one can affect the other. We want to go out into the dating world as our best selves possible. That means exercising, meditating, sleep, and diet are all important to maintain (Morin, 2024).

3. Practice positive self-talk.

Start the mornings or nights with a word of positive self-affirmation. You could even make it a short meditation, sending out good thoughts about yourself to the universe. When you don’t leave room for negative thoughts in your life, there’s only room for what thoughts you do project that can affect your reality (Scott, 2024).

4. Self-reflection of the times you’ve felt most confident (Zarrabi, 2022).

Reflect on the times you’ve felt most confident in dating. Was it the introduction? The intimacy? What makes you a “catch?” And if not, set a goal and reflect on the areas you would like to improve in.

5. Instead of focusing on whether a person likes you, consider whether you like that person.

Approaching a date with the intention of getting the other person to like you is a barrier to feeling confident as your true self; it’s always best to be yourself or you prolong the inevitable (Zarrabi, 2022). Don’t settle for future disappointment.

6. Visualizing before a date.

From the world of competitive sports, athletes will most commonly visualize winning before their actual game, and research has found that his improves their performance (Puentes, 2024). So visualizing how you want a date to go, is a good way to have direction in your confidence. But don’t get hung up if things don’t turn out as you planned! It’s all part of what you’re looking for in the dating world. Setting realistic expectations while also visualizing what you want in dating will harmonize into a learning experience.

7. Reframe rejection as redirection.

As mentioned before, rejection can happen. Reframing rejection as a learning experience is a growing part of our personhood. We learn from each other, and reframing rejection teaches us to adapt, so we can boost our confidence with awareness and the knowledge that comes with that to better tackle things in the future.

8. Keep true to your individuality.

Part of dating confidence is to also be an independent individual, in or out of a relationship. Not prioritizing yourself as an individual can lead to co-dependence because you disconnect from your own needs and desires and end up promoting unhealthy relationship dynamics (Raypole, 2024).

So, remember to always communicate to your date what you’re looking. Is it a summer fling or something serious? There’s no “right way” to be in a relationship either. Just be true to yourself and the goals you want to achieve.

References:
Morin, A. (2024). How to Be More Confident: 9 Tips That Work. Verywellmind. https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-boost-your-self-confidence-4163098

Puentes, J. (2024). Visualization Techniques for Athletes: Boosting Performance Through Mental Imagery. Performance Psychology Center. https://www.performancepsychologycenter.com/post/visualization-techniques-and-mental-imagery

Raypole, C. (2024). What Are the Signs of Codependency? PsychCentral. https://psychcentral.com/lib/symptoms-signs-of-codependency

Scott, E. (2024). Understanding the Law of Attraction. Verywellmind. https://www.verywellmind.com/understanding-and-using-the-law-of-attraction-3144808

Zarrabi, R. (2022). 11 Ways to Build Dating Confidence. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mindful-dating/202204/11-ways-build-dating-confidence