The Starting Lineup or Dating: The Hiring Process

So here’s a general question for all my faithful readers:

Have you ever started ‘talking’ to someone with whom you found romantic interest in, maybe gone out on a couple dates and whatnot and seemingly out of nowhere somebody else comes along and catches your eye as well, and now you’re feeling a sense of ‘guilt’ about wanting to talk to both people at the same time?

Well you shouldn’t feel guilty at all and here’s why… But first, a personal story.

I used to be one of the people who felt that way, all the time. Every time I started ‘talking’ to a girl, I would unintentionally cut off every other female interest regardless of how well things were going/not going with the main chick.

But what would happen? For any number of reasons things would not work out with the main interest and I’d find myself without any romantic interests for a short period of time having had ‘put all my eggs in one basket’ as the saying goes. And what have I learned?

If possible Always have a starting line up– I mean never put your eggs in one basket…Yeah..

The phrase ‘Starting Lineup’ is a pretty common concept. Essentially it boils down to a person having up to a ‘starting five’ when it comes to choosing potential suitors.

This terminology tends not to sit well with most people, because it can be interpreted as the person being some sort of ‘player’ who’s able to switch out their lineup as they see fit or whatever, which is an understandable response to the analogy. So I came up with my own metaphor. I call it the Hiring Process.

This is how it breaks down: If you’re dating and looking to get into a possible relationship, it’s very similar to being a boss and hiring a corporate manager for your own personal company. You don’t want the first interested party to have the power to manage your company do you? Of course not. You want the most qualified person. And what exactly is your ‘company?’ It’s you. In a relationship, you want someone you can confide in, share disappointments and accomplishments with, be able to depend on and essentially be personal/vulnerable with… so again, if you’re going to potentially put all that on the line, it’s only fair to take time to carefully consider each and every person that feels they’re up to that task and see if they’re the ‘most qualified person for the job.’ At least in my opinion.

I’m not saying that you absolutely must talk to more than one person at a time either. If you find someone who you’re interested in that you honestly believe is the best candidate for the ‘job’ of being your significant other then by all means take that opportunity while it’s still there. But if not, you’re not doing anyone a favor or being ‘respectful/thoughtful’ by cutting off all other interests to talk to one person, if anything you’re doing yourself a disservice because at the end of the day you should only be involved with what makes you happy correct?

So if you’re one of those people who is dating I would suggest you date around until you really find someone worth being your ‘main.’ Just my thoughts.