Dating burnout happens when dating has finally taken its toll on you. It feels like work burnout, only you’ve run out of energy for love instead of your job. The answer lies in stepping away from the dating world for a while. Do you need to recharge your romantic batteries? Read below for nine signs that you’re burned out from dating and need to take a breather.
- You’re finding a problem with everyone you date. It’s okay to have high standards. But it’s a whole other ball game if you find something wrong with every person you date because you want to find something wrong with them. If you notice that your tolerance level has gone below what you’d consider fair, then perhaps you’re just burned out. When you have this attitude, you should take a break. Otherwise, you’ll create problems with people who are actually pretty great for you.
- You’re making excuses to avoid going on dates. Does the idea of actually going on a date sound terrible to you? When someone asks you out, do you find yourself putting it off for weeks and weeks before setting a date? If you’re making excuses like this, it probably means that you just need a break from dating. Even if you tell yourself you’re interested in the date, you can’t be that interested if you’re avoiding every opportunity to go on it.
- You’ve lost hope in finding the one. When you’ve been dating for a while and had no luck, it’s easy to lose hope in finding the one. Losing your faith is a clear sign that you need to take a break and recharge your batteries. You’re not likely to strike any promising matches if you’re going on every date with a hopeless attitude. It’s okay to step away and come back when your heart is in it.
- You’re beginning to let your standards slip. Sometimes, dating burnout causes people to raise their standards to an impossible level. But it can also have the opposite effect. If you have dating burnout, it’s also possible that your standards have slipped. You might be so over dating that you feel desperate to meet someone, and so you forget about your values and what’s important to you in a partner. Instead, you settle for anything, including less than you deserve.
- Dating feels like a chore. Dating can feel exhausting at times, but it shouldn’t feel like a chore. When the name of the person you’re seeing pops up on your phone, you should feel excited or at the very least, positive. If you get a feeling of dread when you have to go on a date, or it feels like you’re about to start a long shift at work, it’s a sign your heart isn’t in it. This often happens when you’ve been dating for a while and now you’re just over it.
- You’re running out of energy for other things in your life. While dating does take a certain amount of energy, it shouldn’t suck up all your time and effort. Other areas of your life are still important too. When you’re burned out from dating, it can feel like it takes everything you have just to stay in the dating game. That in turn makes you feel like you’ve run out of energy for the other things that matter, like friends, family, your health, and your job. If it ever gets to that stage, you know it’s time to take a break.
- You constantly feel stressed and exhausted. A common sign of dating burnout is the persistent feeling of stress or exhaustion. Rather than feeling blissful or at ease, it feels like there’s something in your life that’s making you uncomfortable and stealing away your happiness. That’s dating, which has now taken its toll on you. Dating in itself can be a very exhausting thing, so it’s normal to need a break from it every now and then.
- You’re bringing baggage from past dates to your new dates. Sometimes you need a break from dating, not because you’ve been doing it for so long, but because the last person you dated took so much out of you. This might be the case if you’re starting to bring old baggage from your time with that person to your new dates. You should be starting every new date with a fresh slate. So if you feel like you’re still dealing with lingering baggage or emotional issues, it’s a good idea to sort all that out and then come back fresh and ready.
- You don’t feel good about yourself. Dating burnout can leave you feeling pretty bad about yourself. It might be that you’ve been rejected one too many times. Or maybe another person has ghosted you and you’re starting to think the problem is you. You’ll have the best chance of finding love with dating if you feel confident and proud of yourself. If you start to suffer from low self-esteem after a period of dating, try taking some time out. Worry about falling in love with yourself again. Then you’ll be ready to dive back into the dating pool.