Results of the New Years Dating Challenge

So it's New years day and I'm at peace. I completed the challenge  with 7 dates, not 10. But I found out some very useful things.

1. Dating is a lot more fun when you know what you want, but have no expectations from the person in front of you.
For some time now, I have said over and over again that dating wasn't fun and was indeed a necessary evil to the ultimate goal of getting married.. Unfortunately, I went on dates with this in mind. Analyzing each guy as a potential husband or baby daddy. This led to a lot of disappointment and/or rejection. However, with this challenge, my focus was completely on getting to know these guys for who they were, not who I wanted them to be.

2. I was able to get clarity on friendships vs relationships.
Two of the players in the challenge were actual friends that I thought I had romantic feelings for. Through the challenge, I discovered that we indeed were "just friends" and what I thought was feelings were actually friendship feelings.

3. Not every guy is the "one" or even a contender, but could be a really great friend!
This year a lot of my single friends escaped the dating world and entered the realm on marriage. This left a major hole in my life. No more hanging out without the spouse, etc.
This is all fine, but I needed friends to fill that void and there's nothing wrong with having true friends of the opposite sex.

4. It's ok to get to know a person for just friendship.
This line of thinking really makes it easier to be light hearted when you contemplating a date. If it doesn't work out, you have a new friend. I was also able to see guys for what they really are. True friends!

5. Open your mind to the endless possiblitlties that dating can bring.
With revisiting old contenders and putting myself out there to meet all different types of folks. I mean, truthfully, the idea of dating doctors and lawyers was foreign to me. Mainly because the ones I know are usually arrogant pricks that have some type of God complex. But with counseling from my friends and my family and encouragement from this challenge, I have met some guys who are in this category that are down to earth and really good friends!!! I am soo glad I am letting go of biases.

Needless to say, because of this challenge I am now seeing the fun in dating again and I'm looking forward to the next challenge. Yaaaaay