

Here Are 4 Bad Dating Habits You Absolutely Need To Break This Year
It is a brand new year and you know how the saying goes, "a new year, a new me" so I challenge you to bring that same energy into your dating life. Although you may not be perfect in the area of dating or have made the wisest decisions, I do believe that this year is the year to make an honest effort to date better. I do believe that the following habits listed below often blur our judgement of people. Therefore, if you make a conscious effort to no longer allow those things to be a part of how you date, it may lead to a fruitful experience in that area.
Dating does not have to give you a headache. Here are the dating habits we should not give power to by continuing to do. Check them out below.
1.Allowing fear of judgement to stop you from articulating what it is you are looking for...
Before you go into dating, you must be clear and proud of what it is you are looking for. Too often, women shy away from articulating that they are looking for a relationship because they believe it makes them look "thirsty" or desperate. The truth of the matter is that it makes you look like neither! Being unapologetic about what you want indicates maturity, self-awareness, and confidence. All of which is a part of the recipe to create a situationship-free year for 2021.
2.Limiting dates to just dinner...
Food is great and it can quickly become bae but be careful to not make those dinner dates as your only form of interaction with a potential partner. Dinner dates are fun because you get to dress up and see a potential partner in their finest attire while enjoying fine dining. However, dinner dates will not allow you to see how that individual interacts with people (other than the waiter and staff), how they handle losing a game, sense their creative side, and learn more about who they are. Dinner is great, but it is not enough.
I suggest trying the following date ideas (with social distancing) as a way to gain a better of that person:
- Bowling
- Painting class
- Visit a zoo, museum or aquarium
- Pottery class
- Cooking class
- Rock climbing
- Axe throwing
- Miniature golf
Or, if you're not ready to meet in person, you can try these virtual approaches to dating:
- Virtual cooking class
- Virtual online game night
- Watch a documentary or movie (keep it at a reasonable length) and have a discussion
- Virtual workout session
3.Texting as the only form of communication...
Being in quarantine for almost a year has had a toll on many of us. Not being able to have meaningful human interaction with our loved ones is taxing so the last thing you need this year is a pen pal during a pandemic. I do understand that talking on the phone is not for everyone and if that is you, I suggest you try FaceTime or the good old-fashioned Zoom call. Texting can become quickly complicated because you cannot always sense the person's true tone in their messaging and many people do not always feel like typing up a paragraph to answer that "tell me about yourself" question.
Therefore, a phone conversation, FaceTime or Zoom call, can allow people to effectively convey their thoughts and it will provide the listener with a better sense of who that person is.
4.Situationships being the norm...
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There is way too much life to live to waste your time trying to convince an individual to commit to you in a relationship IF you have been acting like you are already in one. For many, 2020 taught people the value of time and how important it is for it not to be wasted. Situationships will waste your time if that is not what you ideally want. You can have an amazing luxurious dating experience with that person but after a period of time, you can't help but ask yourself, is this what I am worthy of? If you desire a title and commitment, do not settle or compromise yourself in that area.
Despite how frustrating dating can be, it is critical that you keep in mind that asking for something beyond a situationship is not doing the most! If someone says different, then inform them that it is considered the most with the wrong individual. If you do not want confusion in the area of dating to be your portion in 2021, I suggest you try the following tips listed above.
Cheers to productive and fruitful dating experience in 2021.
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Featured image by Shutterstock
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Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Why Do Millennials & Gen-Zers Still Feel Like Teenagers? The Pandemic Might Be The Reason.
There’s nothing quite as humbling as navigating adulthood with no instruction manual. Since the turn of the decade, it seems like everything in our society that could go wrong has, inevitably, gone wrong. From the global pandemic, our crippling student debt problem, the loneliness crisis, layoffs, global warming, recession, and not to mention figuring out what to eat for dinner every night. This constant state of uncertainty has many of us wondering, when are the grown-ups coming to fix all of this?
But the catch is, we are the new grown-ups.
As if it happened without our permission, we became the new adults. We are the members of society who are paying taxes, having children, getting married, and keeping our communities afloat, one iced latte at a time. Still, there’s something about doing all these grown-up duties that feel unnaturally grown-up. Enter the #teenagegirlinher20s.
If there’s one hashtag to give you the state of the next cohort of adults, it’s this one. Of the videos that have garnered over 3.9M views, you’ll find a collection of users who are overwhelmed by life’s pressing existential responsibilities, clung to nostalgia, and reminiscent of the days when their mom and dad took care of their insurance plans.
@charlies444ngel no like i cant explain to her why i had to buy multiple tank air dupes from aritzia #teenagegirlinher20s #fyp
The concept of being a 20-something or 30-something teenager is linked to the sentiment of not feeling “grown up enough” to do grown-up things while feeling underprepared and even nihilistic about whether that preparation even matters.
It’s our generation’s version of when we ask our grandmothers how old they are and they simply reply with, “I still feel 45,” all while being every bit of 76 years old. In this, we share a warped concept of time while clinging to a desire for infantilization.
Granted, the pandemic did a number on our concept of time. Many of us who started the pandemic in our early or mid-20s missed out on three fundamental years of socialization, career development, and personal milestones that traditionally help to mark our growth.
Our time to figure out and plan our next steps through fumbling yet active participation was put on pause indefinitely and then resumed provisionally. This in turn has left many of us hanging in the balance of uncertainty as we try to make sense of the disconnect between our minds and bodies in this missing gap of time.
Because we’re all still figuring out what the ramifications of being locked away and frozen in time by a global pandemic will have on us as a society, there really is no “right” way of making up for lost time. Feeling unprepared for any new chapter of life is a natural rite of passage, pandemic or not. However, it’s important to not stay stuck in the last age or period of life that made sense to us because self-growth is the truest evidence of personal progress.
So whether you’re leaning on your inner child, teenager, or 20-something for guidance as you fill the gap between your real age and pandemic age, know that it’s okay to grieve the person you thought you would be and the milestones you thought you’d hit before you ever knew what a pandemic was. If there’s anything that the pandemic taught us, it’s that we have the power to reimagine a better world and life for ourselves. And if we tap into our inner teenager as a compass, we can piece together our next chapter with a fresh outlook.
Sure, we’ve lost a couple of years, but there are still some really amazing ones ahead.
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