5 Things to Do Before Meeting a Stranger from the Internet

HowAboutWe

By Phylisa Joy for HowAboutWe

5 Things To Do Before Meeting a Stranger from the Internet
5 Things To Do Before Meeting a Stranger from the Internet

You're charming and hot and eligible, and your time is precious

. Before you go meet the potential love of your life in person, there are five things you must do. These will both keep you safe and ensure that you're spending that precious time doing exactly what (and who?) you want to be doing. It's what your nana would want for you…if you talked to her about your sex life.

1. Tell a friend where you're going right before you leave.

Or your mom. Or all of your twitter followers. It doesn't matter who you tell, but the safest thing for a savvy dater to do is make sure someone else in the world knows where you are. Note: make sure it's someone you're willing to fill in on the details of your rendezvous with the sexy stranger. In the *likely* scenario that it goes well, your safety person will probably want to know about it.

2. Do something you love earlier in the day.

My friend says that you must do something really interesting before meeting someone for a date or…whatever you are meeting for. It will give you something to talk about in the initial stages ("Today? Oh… I just went and milked cows at the city farm. It's just something I like to do"). If the date doesn't go how you imagined it would, you can walk away reminding yourself that you're fab and you do really cool things. Good for the confidence in advance and good for the confidence afterwards. You don't live for meeting people on the internet, you live for you and you're badass!

Related: The 8 Stages of Being The Only Single Friend

3. Exchange selfies before you agree to meet.

"But," you might be thinking, "I'm not SHALLOWWWWW."

Sorry, but yes you are. Sitting through drinks with someone you're not attracted to isn't going to get you into heaven.

4. Text about something other than logistics.

Whatever you're meeting up for, you need to make sure they have something interesting/ cute/ funny to say. Anyone can get their friend to write a sassy profile. A hot photo doesn't mean they share your love of Antiques Road Show.

5. Be clear (with yourself and the other person) about your expectations.

Know what YOU want to come of this. If you're just in it for the sex, find a way to say that. If you're invested in meeting someone for a longer-term romance, throw in something about how you're looking forward to hearing more about their work. Ask some follow-up questions about the dog in their profile photo.

Because, really, is there anything worse than thinking you're on a date, and discovering that the person sitting across from you is looking for an "activity partner" with whom to go rock-climbing? I shudder.

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