A First date is like a gift wrapped in a box; you’d never know what’s inside until you open it. And when you do, you are either left excited or disappointed. No matter how long you’ve been in the dating circle, going out with someone for the first is exactly what it is; a first. The many expectations dangling on your mind create a mountain hill of anxiety over how it could turn out. It could be the first of many dates, or the first and the last. If it turned out to be the latter, you don’t want to be the reason behind it.
Here are 8 little ways to be awesome on a first date.
1. Pick a fun date activity
Being on your toes to look good on your first date is plenty of work; you don’t want to do more work by trying so hard to enjoy an activity that bores you to death. Even when you try to act like you are having fun, your body language will betray you. It might be a first date, but it’s certainly not the first time you’d be doing that thing you love. You’d get carried away, and won’t even remember it’s a first date.
2. Dress for comfort
You want to make heads turn on your first date, who doesn’t? While that hot dress topping the charts in your wardrobe might do the magic, you don’t want to be trapped in it like a statue. You need to be free like a bird! Adjusting your dress every other minute, would be a distraction, don’t you think? Leave all that for another day. A cute dress that allows you to move freely without making any adjustments would be just fine.
3. Keep it real
The best you can be is nobody but yourself. Playing out that fictitious character on a first date to impress your prospective partner can be awkward even for an Oscar winner. Besides, who says you aren’t lovely the way you are? If you have to fake it to impress your date, then maybe it’s not worth it after all.
4. Stay sober
If you were meeting up with an old time buddy, having some alcohol to get excited, and reminisce about old times wouldn’t be a bad idea. But on a first date, you need to be as sober as a nun. You have to be accountable for every word or action you take. You don’t want to be going left when your date is going right.
5. Keep your baggage off the table
So you have a huge bag of baggage, don’t you? Well, you are not alone on that one. If it’s any consolation, your date probably has a bigger bag of baggage. But you two didn’t get together to throw a pity party, did you? This could be the beginning of something special. Lock up your baggage, and misplace the keys. You could find them on your way home.
6. Don’t steal the spotlight
Perhaps you think you are the best thing to happen to the world after the invention of electricity, and you love to make everything about you. Coming off as vaguely domineering can put a sour taste in your date’s mouth. It’s a date for you two, not a date for yourself. Be kind enough to share the spotlight with your date, would you?
7. Lay back a little
So you have a thousand and one questions you want to ask your date because you want to know everything about them. Not so bad, getting acquainted is a good thing. However, you shouldn’t shoot all your questions at him like bullets from an AK 47 rifle. It’s a date, not an interview. Throwing so many questions at your date could make them feel like they are being interrogated. Let your questions flow in effortlessly in the course of your conversation.
8. Don’t move too fast
Perhaps your date scores high on your list (if you have one), and you are excited about having more dates with them. If you like it, why don’t you keep it? But you shouldn’t be faster than your shadows. Telling someone you love them or trying to get intimate on a first date, could make you look needy and desperate. Take it one step at a time, and enjoy every moment.
Sometimes, first dates don’t get past that first stage. And that’s because most people get overwhelmed by the butterflies in their stomach. You are going out with that person for the first time, and there are no guarantees yet. Making calculated moves will do you a lot of good; you’d have nothing to lose if you didn’t get another date with them.