14 Happily-In-Love People Share Their Best Advice For Finding Love In The New Year

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1. “Stop dating who you think you’re supposed to date or who looks good on paper, and start dating people who treat you well and people who you actually like (even if you’re surprised that you like them or they’re not normally your type).”

–Monique, 26


2. “Schedule multiple dates with multiple people in the same week and don’t feel bad about it. It’s kind of fun. And it increases your odds of finding someone you really connect with.”

–Nikki, 24

3. “Keep your standards high and remember that you deserve someone great, but also don’t have a strict, inflexible list of what you expect in a partner. If you do, and you refuse to waiver from it, you’ll never find anyone.”

–Ryanne, 27


4. “Spend more time with more single friends. Couple friends are great, but you’re not going to have much luck finding ‘the one’ when you go out to dinner with couple friends and they’re ready to call it a night by nine o’clock.”

–Caleb, 29


5. “If you truly didn’t have fun on the first date, don’t waste your time going on a second one just because you feel bad. That’s energy that could be spent on a date with someone else who you might actually enjoy being with.”

–Gwen, 28


6. “Be up front about what you want. I’m not saying to go on a first date with someone and tell them you’re ready to marry them. But I am saying that if you go out with someone and you can tell they’re not looking for anything serious and you are, cut it off before you get in too deep and end up just being disappointed or hurt because you wanted different things.”

–Darin, 30


7. “Only spend time on the dating sites or apps that you actually like. Just because you’re single doesn’t mean you have to waste time on every single site – especially the ones where you feel like you’ve only met jerks or shallow people.”

–Lise, 27


8. “Try places other than a loud, obnoxious bar where you’re probably drunk. There are meet ups, Groupon activities you can do, classes, etc. Go do things that you’re interested in and you’ll find people you have things in common with.”

–Lyle, 31


9. “Don’t say yes to a date just because ‘you’re single and you should.’ You didn’t do anything wrong by being single. If you don’t like someone or you’re not interested, you are under no obligation to spend an entire evening with them.”

–Christy, 26


10. “Go on dates to coffee shops. Then there’s no waiter constantly coming in, there’s a greater sense of privacy, it’s the daytime and makes it feel more real.”

–Grady, 28

11. “Don’t waste your time hanging out with people who constantly want to talk about how you’re alone. Seriously, wtf is their problem? Be with people who don’t feel the need to talk about your love life 24/7 and it will take so much pressure off of you.”

–George, 30


12. “Go to stuff you’re invited to, even when you don’t feel like it. With dinner parties and birthday dinners and housewarming things and somebody’s one-woman show, you never know who you’ll meet.”

–Cristina, 29


13. “Walk away from people who treat you poorly, and you’ll have more time for the good ones.”

–Blake, 25


14. “Just remember that you deserve to be happy. I think, whether your actions are conscious or not, when you believe that you deserve to be happy, you’ll attract good people and repel the bad ones. You deserve to be happy.”

–Alisa