Follow these steps to end being perpetually single on Valentine’s Day:
Another Valentine’s Day and another year you’re feeling depressed about being perpetually single for so long that you’re thinking about joining a convent. You could celebrate Single’s Awareness Day. Or you could get together with friends and complain about holidays created by greeting card companies and drown your sorrows in another cosmo.
But, Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be something to hate or something to avoid. Instead, if you’re depressed about being single you can choose to be motivated to make a plan to end your loneliness, make sure you are no longer perpetually single, or from going to one relationship that doesn’t last to another and yet another.
Contrary to what you may believe, the real way to ensure you’re not perpetually single is to set the intention, plan and create a strategy for lasting-love. We know this may sound somewhat unromantic, but love does operate under the same universal laws as everything else in life.
In the same way that you wouldn’t expect your ideal career to simply show up in your life, or to wake up one day toned, fit, and beach body ready, the same is true when it comes to long-lasting love.
Yet, somehow we have come to believe that love “magically” happens.
It doesn’t.
So while you cannot manipulate another person into taking actions the way you would want them to, you can set yourself up to be lucky in love – if you believe that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
The way to ensure that you are no longer depressed about being single and that your beloved is in your life next year to celebrate Valentine’s Day is to get serious about how you date. Learning how to be discerning through the dating process will help you find your soulmate in the fastest way possible.
And of course, that has NOTHING to at all do with luck.
The first step to stop being depressed about single is to take new actions. Your circumstances won’t magically change when you least expect them to. The place to begin is with you – take a deep dive into your relationship history. Understanding your past patterns and strategies will give you insight into how to approach things differently this time around.
As you do this exercise, you’ll want to examine all of your significant relationships and look for the patterns. The significance comes from your emotional investment rather than the amount of time or commitment on the part of your ex. If you were deeply invested, it counts even if it was only a relationship for several weeks.
Answer these questions and track your replies:
- Who pursued who?
- How long did the relationship last?
- Rate the intensity for you on a scale of 1-10
- Who initiated the breakup?
- What reason(s) were given for the breakup?
Review your answers and look for the patterns and/or commonalities.
Then, ask yourself:
- Are you the one who usually initiates the breakup?
- Or are you the one left feeling abandoned?
- When you did not initiate the break up is there a common catalyst given to you by multiple partners?
By exploring your relationship patterns, you gain valuable insight into what worked and what didn’t. These clues teach you how to do things differently moving forward, they are the puzzle pieces you’ll need to stop feeling depressing about being single and instead go out in the world and create a new kind of relationship – one that is fulfilling and lasting.
Emotions may get stirred up for you as you go through this process. It is very important that you feel your emotions. Don’t try to hide from them or ignore them. Allow them to surface and flow through you. They won’t last.
No one ever thinks when they’re feeling deep joy or happiness that they will feel that way forever. However, when we feel depressed about being single we think that those feelings will never change and we’ll somehow get stuck feeling badly forever. The truth about all emotion is that it is transitory. Allow the feelings to move through your body, feel them, and let them go.
You may find going over your past history that there is still some hurt, anger, sadness, or grief about those events. These feelings might be attached to the other person, or your own behavior in the relationship, you may have even have some regrets.
This is a great opportunity to release those feelings and start fresh. One of the most powerful forgiveness practices is a Hawaiian meditation called Ho’oponopono.
Pono in Hawaiian means integrity and Ho’oponopono means coming into integrity with yourself. Doing this practice will allow you to forgive and release hurts and heartbreaks from your past relationships.
To practice Ho’oponopono, follow these steps:
- Place your palms on the center of your chest – your heart center.
- Close your eyes and picture the person you wish to focus on. This may be a past partner or it may be an earlier version of you.
- Say these 4 phrases aloud:
- I’m sorry.
- Please forgive me.
- Thank you.
- I love you.
- Repeat for 5-10 minutes daily.
Releasing your past hurts frees you from feeling depressed about being single and allows you to create new ones moving forward. By releasing these emotions that are attached to past events you will clear your emotional deck. The events could’ve occurred yesterday or decades ago, it doesn’t really matter. By starting from a clean place you’ll be ready to start dating again. This time, you’re going to do it differently than you’ve done it in the past.
Changing your patterns means changing your habits as well as your mind
Most people feel depressed about being single because they suffer through dating long enough to find someone they are attracted to and then rush into exclusivity hoping it works out. And when it doesn’t, they think that they are just going to be stuck being perpetually single.
We suggest that you slow things down.
Date a lot of people, and date a full range of people. Some that you’re very attracted to, some that you’re not attracted to at all, as well as those in the middle.
But do not rush into exclusivity with anyone. Take the time you need to decide if you’re a fit and what areas are misaligned.
By dating in this way, you create the opportunity to collect lots of data on yourself. These golden bits of information will ultimately lead you to make better choices and more truthful decisions about who and what makes you truly happy and will focus in on the vision of what your true soul partnership looks like.
When you have a range of attraction, you can garner a truthful set of answers on what feels right to you, rather than only dating people that inspire expectations and high hopes for longevity.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Are you more able to be authentic when you are not attracted to your date?
- When you are attracted to your date do you twist into a pretzel trying to get that one person to like you?
- Do you go with the flow and tolerate things just so that you come across as easy-going?
Going on a lot of dates with a variety of people will formulate the vision of the kind of relationship you desire so that it becomes crystal clear. This process will allow you to become more discerning of who you give your heart to so you stop giving it to people who can never love you the way you most desire to be loved.
Remember, the person you are getting to know is a stranger. Don’t put your lovability (or even your likeability) in the hands of someone you do not truly know.
Test the experience
As you are dating, you’ll want to make requests and ask for what you want. Don’t be shy. Equally so, don’t expect the other person to read your mind. The only way to get what you want is to ask for it. You know this at work; apply the same thinking to your dating partner.
When you make requests, pay close attention to how you’re responded to. What happens when you make requests, are emotional, or have a disagreement or miscommunication?
How he behaves and treats you under a variety of circumstances will inform you about the kind of person he is and what it would be like to be in a relationship with him long-term.
And don’t shy away from the uncomfortable conversations. You’ll want to know if the two of you can navigate conflict together. That’s a real part of life and none of us avoids it no matter how much we want to.
Start to draw conclusions about what you really need
All of this data will begin to give you a clear picture of how you want your soulmate relationship to function over the long haul. The longer you practice, the easier it will be to see what you truly desire from your beloved and what is required for you to create a true soul partnership.
Instead of feeling depressed about being single, you’ll have a plan for creating lasting love.
From there, you can more accurately evaluate which guy is a match to your vision and pleasantly walk away from the ones who are not the right fit.
Many dating coaches advise you to create a list of what you want as if you were placing your order with the universe – this magical thinking is a huge part of the problem. It’s impossible to conjure a tall, dark-haired, emotionally healthy but sexually adventurous person out of thin air.
And since we live in the real world, where magic and fairy dust don’t produce results at work or with your health, you need to accept that the same is true of your love life. Nothing will make you more depressed about being single than needing a miracle to change your circumstances.
When you know how you want your soulmate relationship to function and the dynamic you desire between the two of you, you’ll stop wasting time with those who are not an ideal match for you. Only when your values match with your partner’s will you create the kind of relationship that can navigate the inevitable challenges that life will bring your way and stand the test of time together.
Why are mutual values so important?
What often tears people apart is a stressful event or situation that reveals that the two of you didn’t really value the same things. Knowing these important details are so much more important than the kind of movies or music you both like.
You cannot discover what someone values by asking them. You must discover what someone values by spending time with them and paying attention to how they spend their resources. People value what they spend their time, energy, and money on.
For example, someone may claim to value family and yet never make an effort to include you in their family events.
The power of visualization
As you get clear on your ideal soulmate relationship, you want to put some time and energy visualizing yourself living life alongside your Beloved. Hold the vision of what you desire in your mind’s eye often. Begin to act as if you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is on his way to you.
All of these steps are the preparation. The opportunity comes when you put effort into meeting new people. It’s then that you get to road test your visualization, values, and patterns to see if the new you lines up with how you interact on dates.
And speaking of dates, look for reasons to say “Yes!”
- Yes to a date
- Yes to online dating
- Yes to go to a party where you don’t know anyone
- Yes to being curious about people
- Yes to being set up on a blind date
Put yourself out there and be curious and open. Be cautious about giving your heart away to a stranger. Date often but take things slowly and invest time to discover who he really is. Make him earn the benefit of the doubt you so lovingly want to give him.
And remember that a guy you meet online and have coffee with may be the person to introduce you to your ideal mate. Every new person you meet knows people you haven’t met yet. Plus, you cannot spot a soulmate in an online profile, so stop evaluating whether or not he is your guy based on his pictures or what he wrote. Nothing is real until you meet face-to-face in person. Even video-chat will not enlighten you to know in advance if this guy is your “Mr. Right.” Emotional connection is established when you’re in the physical presence of the other person.
By taking your time through the dating process, you will eliminate the burnout from having short-term relationships that don’t last and going back to the dating pool discouraged and frustrated time and again.
We know that you’ve felt depressed about being single for so long, but we also know there is hope for you to no longer be perpetually single. By following our strategies you can create the opportunity to have the long-lasting, soul-satisfying love you desire. Then and only then will you know for sure that this is the last Valentine’s Day you’ll spend alone.
If you’re seriously looking to make a change in how you date and select a mate download our complimentary ebook, Recognizing Mr. Right. You’ll find that you are a lot more powerful than you think – particularly when it comes to creating the long-lasting love you desire.
Such a good article!! Thank you.
We so appreciate your positive feedback. Any additional questions? Feel free to let us know and we’ll be happy to address them right here.
Very difficult for many of us good single men to meet a good woman today that doesn’t have so many very high standards nowadays.
Hi Jim, thanks for reaching out to us. If you’ve read much of our blog then you’d know that to get a different result with women you would have to look inside of you. We’d love to know what you discovered about yourself and your limiting beliefs about love from this article.
Sometimes you just get tired of trying and hoping. I’m 54 always single, never lived with a partner. All previous short relationships the guy left me, and most times to marry the person they left me for.
I’ve tried online dating the last year or two on apps, can’t really get past the hello online stage let alone get to a phone call or actual date.
I’ve even swiped right on profiles that I wasn’t really attracted to but liked what they wrote only to be rejected or ignored by them as well.
So whilst your enthusiasm and guidance is good, it doesn’t deal with long term fatigue from trying and not succeeding and loss of hope.
I’ve gone to parties I don’t want to go to, but find in my age group that everyone is coupled and the minute I talk to a man the wife swoops in to reinforce he’s taken.
It’s disheartening and to be honest…. I’ve given up.
It’s hard to keep being positive when month after month, year after year, even decade after decade you face rejection.
Thanks for your comment Monique. We hear you and hear your frustration and fatigue. It can be frustrating when your efforts don’t produce the results you desire. We suggest you take a long look at your beliefs about love and relationship and see if there are old emotional wounds from your past that still need to be healed. We know that love is available to you and we believe in you!
Why was it so very easy for a single man to find love in the old days? Today it is like looking for a needle in a haystack since the women today are quite different from the past unfortunately.
Thanks for your question Joe. It always seems easier to find love when you are younger because you have a more robust social life and most people your age are also single. The women you are meeting are different because they are older as well and have more life experience. We suggest instead of focusing on things you cannot control (like women being different), you focus on what you can control, which includes your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Do you have limiting beliefs that are getting in the way of seeing the right women for you? Maybe you have an emotional story that is keeping you focused on your past heartbreaks instead of on creating love in a new way. Focus on what you can change and you’ll find that love is available to you.
I think the biggest problem I have is not knowing where I’m going wrong.
I’m 33/M and have lived alone for a few years, and assumed my new found independence would help, having previously never had a relationship. However, I am just stuck in the same cycle of single life.
I’ve never had a date before, so have no successful previous experience to draw from. I’ve tried joining social clubs to get to know people, different activities like learning a foreign language. I’ve actively tried dating stuff, like online or dating apps, but receive no replies or get no matches. I feel very torn about what hurts less – not trying and remaining single, or continue trying and receiving constant rejection?
When I was younger, I felt that things would just happen. It seemed so easy for ecwryone else but I didn’t stress about it as I knew I had plenty of time. While I realise being 33 isn’t the end of my life, it’s an awful long time to be single and although I try my hardest not to, it’s hard not to start feeling negatively about yourself in terms of looks and personality. After all, if either of them were in any way positive, surely I would’ve attracted someone, anyone at this point?
I guess my biggest concern is that, what are the odds the first person I ever go on a date with is going to be the right person for life? If its taken me this long and I’ve yet to even have a date, I worry this will just be it forever now.
Thanks for reaching out to us Kurt! We know that you are just as deserving of love as anyone else. Perhaps it’s time you started looking at your dating strategies. Continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results is only going to continue to frustrate you. Please feel free to contact us if you would like some help creating new strategies for love.