Top five things to do on a date:

1. Never look the person in the eye.
2. Pick your nose.
3. Wear the outfit you wore to the pig wrestling contest earlier that day.
4. Act bored.
5. Tell the person you can’t live without him or her. You need to get married now.

Well, yeah that would be a HUGE JK. Those are probably things you should avoid doing. Here are a few other suggestions:

Don’t keep talking about yourself. Make sure you ask some questions about the other person.

Keep texting and phone calls to others at a minimum unless you are texting together to someone (not texting to each other across the table). When you use your phone in front of someone, it sends the message that whatever is on your phone is more interesting than the person you are with. (And, yeah, that doesn’t feel good.)

Here are some things to actually do:

Try to make eye contact. When you have a crush on someone, eye contact can feel excruciatingly difficult. But eye contact helps people feel connected. If you avoid your date’s eyes the entire time, it will be hard for the two of you to really feel a connection.

Help with the plans and always assume that you are paying for your portion on a date. You may offer to pay for your date’s dinner, but don’t assume that he/she can afford to pay for yours (or drive you where you need to go).

Remember to say thank you, unless the date was a complete jerk and treated you poorly. Never thank anyone for mean or cruel behavior. If you don’t feel comfortable at ANY POINT with how things are going, you can always let the person know, go home or even break up (if you are that far along in the dating process). The point is, you are DATING. Dating does not mean forever.

Overall:

During a date, don’t do anything more than you feel comfortable doing. If you are unsure, be cautious. If someone really likes you for you, he/she will want you to be comfortable. Don’t do something that goes against your beliefs and morals just to impress someone you like because then you are not really being you – you are presenting a false image of you self to that person (an image you may find hard to live with later).

Don’t forget that if you don’t really like someone in a dating sort of way, the kindest thing you can do is to not continue the relationship in that way. It may be hard to let someone know that, but it will be harder in the long run for the other person. And since, rejection can be hard, the next post has a few tips on what to do if your feelings are not returned.