When it comes to online dating, countless singles look at the start of the new year as a time to begin fresh or to redouble their efforts at finding that someone special. That might be even more true in 2022. There are many of us who are looking for a way to make sure 2022 is better than 2021.
If you decided to revamp your dating efforts to kick off the new year, you’re definitely not alone!
Because of this new year mindset, this month can often be the busiest season for online dating. This fact can be a very helpful for many singles who are actively searching for their future spouse. But this busiest time in online dating can also lead to stress, burnout, and discouragement.
Here are four things to keep in mind as you navigate through the busiest season of online dating.
Expect to be overwhelmed
Whether you’re brand new to the online dating game or more of a seasoned veteran, now can definitely be a time when you begin to feel a little overwhelmed at the many sites, methods, and potential avenues for success in dating. Even if you’ve done online dating before, you might notice that there seem to be a lot more users on the sites you use than normal.
You might find that there are more people you’re interested in connecting with than what you normally find. Or you might even find yourself receiving more messages from people than you’re used to.
If you don’t mentally prepare yourself for more activity and more opportunities, it can be easy to start to feel overwhelmed. But if you do start to feel this way, take a momentary step back, a deep breath, and remind yourself that having a lot of opportunities to connect is a great problem to have.
Read more: How To Keep Conversation Going Online
You may find yourself with more matches than other parts of the year. That’s exciting, but it can be overwhelming. Take time to prepare for online dating apps (like Catholic Singles!) to look a little different than the rest of the year. A bit of mental preparation can go a long way in this area.
Set aside time for online dating
Not all of us are necessarily schedule-driven people. Some of us enjoy doing things spontaneously in our daily lives. But when it comes to making the most of online dating at this busy time of year, you’re much more likely to have success if you set aside regular time for online dating.
This means that if you are a schedule-driven person who likes to plan things out and stick to that plan, pencil in some time each day to devote to online dating. Not so schedule-driven? It’s still a good idea to settle on a certain amount of time each day or week to spend working on online dating and to make sure that you fit it in.
Another good idea would be to plan your online dating activity around the best times to do online dating. Research shows that on weekdays during the day, online dating sites have far less activity because many people are at work. The evenings and especially the weekends are when most users are active.
Read more: Feeling Hopelessly Inexperienced In Dating? Here Are 3 Reasons Not To Despair
Sunday afternoons and evenings are the peak times for online dating users. So if you’re hoping to catch someone while they’re online, or if you’re eager to find new users, Sunday afternoon and evenings are good times to devote to online dating.
Try giving your profile a makeover
Now is as perfect time consider sprucing up your online dating profile and your profile picture.
Sure, the people who are new to online dating right now won’t have seen your old profile and picture. But giving your online dating profile a mini-revamp right now can still help you to connect with other users who may not have been as excited about the old version of your profile.
Read more: 4 Ways To Spruce Up Your Online Dating Profile This Winter
All of us do change in at least small ways throughout our lives. It’s quite possible that some older profile information about yourself might not even be as accurate as it can be anymore. The same can be said for your profile picture. If you’re using a shot from some time ago, has your look changed at all since the picture was taken?
Even if you do look pretty much exactly the same as you did when your current pic was taken, there’s no reason you can’t take this opportunity to change things up and try a pic that shows you doing something you enjoy or shows some other aspect of your personality.
Keep an open mind
In Catholic dating, we’re hopefully entering into the process with the mentality that God is ultimately in control and will lead us to a spouse who will be good for us. But it can be difficult at times to maintain this mentality as we carry on the sometimes dreary process of actually searching for someone.
We can begin to feel that we are fully in control of our future, that we know best who will be a good fit for us. While we should definitely know ourselves and have a good idea of the qualities we need in a mate, that certainly doesn’t mean that we truly do know it all when it comes to what’s best for us.
So as you embark on the adventure of working to find that special someone in the boom of online dating, resolve to work on keeping an open mind. Try to keep the mentality of openness to God’s will, and work on being ready to let God surprise you in your dating life.
Ready to meet people who share your beliefs and values as a single Catholic man or woman – and message them for FREE? Download the Catholic Singles dating app today!
