The Second First Date

Dating after a long relationship can make you feel absurdly inexperienced and overqualified at the same time.

You know more about partnership than you once did. You also may not know the current rituals, apps, abbreviations, expectations, or exactly when everyone decided a thumbs-up could end a conversation.

Do not confuse unfamiliarity with incompetence.

You are not returning to the beginning. You are arriving with data.

You know which qualities looked charming at first and became exhausting later. You know some of your own warning signs. You may finally know the difference between being chosen and being compatible.

Keep curiosity without surrendering standards.

Let yourself be awkward.

The point of a first date is not to prove that you still know how to date.

It is simply to discover whether you would enjoy a second conversation with the person across from you.