Let’s Just Be Friends: When Dating Takes the Friendship Dive

There is no worse word in the dating dictionary than the ‘F’ word. It is a word so powerful that you dread it and when you do hear it, it makes your stomach turn. No one ever wants to hear the word ‘friend’, ‘friendship’ or any other variation of the word’ when it comes to dating. “Lets just be friends.” Blech. If you just wanted a friend then you wouldn’t be subjecting yourself to the sheer torture of blind dates, internet dates or any dates for that matter! Friends. Pffffft.

The search for love is never easy and you really do have to kiss a lot of toads before you find your prince or princess, but with a little crafty thinking, you can turn even the ‘lets be friends’ scenario around into something beneficial to you. First thing’s first; if a date decides that they’re just not that into you, you can bet your pretty new first date panties that they’re not going to change their minds no matter how much charm you lay on. And when they do use the ‘friendship’ line; they don’t really mean it. How can I be sure? Think about it, did you go on the date hoping to gain a just friend? The thing is though; you can work this in your favor. How? By not rolling your eyes and making a point of not throwing your martini at them when they say it and instead, holding your head up high, putting on an agreeable smile and saying “I would love to be friends!”

So now you’ve got a new friend—even if he or she doesn’t really wanna be—who you can use for what they really are, which is a single person of around the same age who happens to be of the opposite sex and likely has single friends. Get it? SINGLE friends… As in single friends who may be your type. And what else do you get? You get a single guy or girl who might be a good fit for one of your single friends. Consider it your part in helping the dating environment by practicing the recycling of singles!

Yes, it may be a blow to your ego to go on a date with someone and have them decide that they just aren’t attracted to you, but you can’t win them all! When the world gives you lemons; make lemonade! Can I stop with the clichés yet? The point is that you can turn any crappy situation around into something positive if you think outside the box and make the most of every situation you’re given, including a cruddy date. Make the effort to keep in contact with that person and if you feel comfortable enough; tell them what you’d like to do. Who knows, they just may be giving enough to wanna share the love! Just because it didn’t happen for you to doesn’t mean that you can’t help each other find true love, does it? So get out there, date around and don’t let the ‘F’ word scare you anymore.