Escaping the Game – 10 Reasons to Take a Break from Dating

Sure, dating is great and all – especially if you find someone you really click with – but it can also be completely exhausting. We all hit breaking point, though, and eventually get sick of the endless stream of bad (non)romances.  When that happens, it’s probably a good idea to take a break. After all, there are plenty of things you can do besides looking for a guy.

  1. You can go au naturel. That’s right – no more shaving! You don’t need to stop shaving completely – unless bushes are your thing, then by all means, rock on. But now that you’re not dating, it’s okay to let your legs get to brillo pad status without even looking at a razor.
  2. You can watch Netflix in peace. Nothing is more obnoxious than when you’re happily three seasons deep into Gilmore Girls on Netflix and the guy you’re dating puts his two cents in about how your sedentary lifestyle and bag-a-day jelly bean addiction is bad for your health, blah blah blah. Now you can watch whatever you want for as long as you want, minus the judgey side-eyes from anyone else.
  3. You can recover your lost sanity.  Does he like you? When should you text him? How come he didn’t text back right away?  All those needling questions you get when you’re in that awkward third date stage where you just don’t know where it’s still headed will disappear when you take dating out of your life’s equation. Sanity saved.
  4. You can be as messy as you wanna be. Dating is about 50% upkeep – upkeep of your body, your clothes, your house, your car… When you bid dating a temporary goodbye, you can leave your sweaty workout towels in the back seat of your car or leave that old pizza box on the coffee table until tomorrow, with no worries that someone will get a glimpse of your disgusting side. You can even spend an entire Saturday in sweatpants if that’s what you want.
  5. You can keep the toilet seat down. Where it belongs. Your toilet seat stays down. It stays dry. It keeps its girly lavender smell. Heaven.
  6. You can learn to love the life you already have. Finally, you can put away your  creeptastic “fake smile with nods of agreement while you fall into a coma” face that you end up using on nearly every date. You already know you don’t need a man to complete you, but now you can put your money where your mouth is and live life for YOU, not for love.
  7. You can save some serious cash. Dating is expensive. Between the money you spend on looking good, gas to get there, dinner, drinks – your finances can seriously take a hit. Quitting the dating scene for a while can save your money from another beating. Finally, staying in and ordering Chinese food pays off.
  8. You can simply enjoy being off the relationship roller coaster. Dating, falling in love, falling out of love, break-up. After a few rides on the relationship roller coaster, you’ll feel like you want to hurl. And when you feel like that’s happening to you, it means you definitely need to back off for a while.
  9. You can reconnect with your girlfriends. When you invest so much time in trying to find a romantic partner, you tend to forget the platonic ones you already have in life. Your best friends are there for you when romance isn’t, and it’s time you give them some love, too.
  10. You can figure out what you really want. Take an inventory on the past few guys you’ve dated – do they seem similar to each other? Did they all end up being douche bags?  Sometimes you can’t see that you’ve been voluntarily swimming in pool full of scum until you get out of the pool, so to speak. A break would be a good time to figure out how you got there, where you want to go and what kind of person you want to meet.
Elaine is a freelance writer who has written for Playboy and used to blog nonstop before she got a Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram and lost all focus. She loves mangoritas, talking in the third person and when you share her articles with your friends. Follow her on Twitter @Ladyhaha, or go to Shedens.com and read more of her ridiculousness.
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