The ultimate purpose of dating is to see if the person you are with is the person you want to be with for the rest of your life. It follows therefore that you should be presenting yourself as who you really are, and observing your date present themselves as they really are. Then and only then can the both of you accurately decide if you are right for each other.

Be aware that dating is not a contest. You are not seeing if you can "win" them over by being somebody besides yourself. Dating is not a time when you are different than the person you will be when you are married. Perhaps one of the reasons we have such a high divorce rate is that people thought that dating was a contest. If either one or both people were playing the "win" game when they were dating, both people will be the "losers" when they find out they are not the couple they thought they were while dating.

I will restate the purpose of dating. Dating is to see if the person you are with is the person you want to be with for the rest of your life. Dating is a time for you to present yourself as who you really are, and observe your date presenting themselves as they really are so both of you can accurately decide if you are right for each other.

Some simple Do's and Don'ts of Dating: