How to Feel Young in Your Dating Life

Life is full of transitions from an old life to a new beginning. High school graduation, college graduation, marriage, a new job, a new home, children, divorce or loss of a partner, and retirement are some of the bigger examples.

The important element in all of life’s changes is that an exciting new life always replaces the old one. Excitement and vibrancy never have to be lost for a resilient human being, and a new romance (or an old one!) later in life can have just as much youthful vigor as you had with your college sweetheart, your main squeeze at Woodstock, or the enchanting girl on that moonlit beach all those years ago.

If you want to feel young in your love life and experience the kind of excitement you had when love was a new frontier, you really can do it. It’s all a matter of how you feel, how you live, and how adventurous you are on your dates.

You don’t have to look very far to see the truth and wisdom in this old platitude. Good health keeps you vigorous, vigor keeps you active, and activity keeps you young. If you feel good, you can enjoy life more fully.

Very few of us want to spend hours in the gym, but there are plenty of ways to work a little more activity into our lives.

A walk to the park to feed the squirrels or watch the kids play, a brisk morning power walk around the mall, a bike ride, or 15 minutes on the spinning cycle in the living room two or three times a week can make a world of difference in your strength, stamina and mood. A little sweat actually helps to bring back your humor and ability to engage with other people.

A lighter, healthier diet will also do wonders for your zip and zest for life. If you’re feeling like your get-up-and-go got up and went, try getting some of the carbs, salt and sugar out of your diet from those easy prepared meals, and get more fresh proteins, vegetables and fruits into your diet.

Small changes can give you better regularity, help you shed a pound or two, have a cleansing effect on your whole system, and just make you feel better.

When the colors of the world start to seem brighter and closer, that is when others will be more drawn to the colors and brightness of your spirit. You will feel more in step with life, enjoy life more, be happier, be more outgoing, in good humor around others, and start feeling and acting younger.

“Treat her with the same energy that you

treated your dates with back in high school.”

For years, you were too busy with work and family to keep up any of your favorite hobbies and pastimes. Reigniting a passion for the activities you love can help you fire up your jet engines for romance, too.

Get out those old tools and do some woodworking. Start with a birdhouse or a jewelry box. Dust off your bowling ball and take it out for a test drive at the nearest lanes.

Clean up and paint that Weber grill you used for cooking up your famous steaks and ribs, and invite a friend or two over to break it in all over again. Oil up your slide trombone or get new strings for that vintage Gibson guitar in the attic.

Put some horseshoe stakes in the backyard, fix the backboard on that basketball hoop over the garage, or clean up the old woods and irons and head for a par-3 course down the street.

Becoming actively involved in the things you feel passionately about can be so much more than great exercise. It can make you a more interesting person and give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

And it will make you a lot better catch for a great lady who’s still young at heart. Having something to live for keeps you young and makes you so much more attractive to the fairer sex.

Now that you’ve got the spunk and outlook of a rodeo bronco again, take your lady out and show her a good time. Do it old school by giving her a single flower or a couple of daisies you picked yourself when you pick her up.

Be energetic, smile, and tell her how young and gorgeous she looks. Be relaxed, chat, and hold her hand on the way to the car. And, of course, open the door for her.

Have a CD or radio station with music from your favorite band or era playing in the car, and take her some place that will make her smile and laugh.

Start at a drive-in hamburger stand for a root beer float or butterscotch shake. Most cities have one or two old-style A&Ws or 50s-themed drive-ins.

From the drive-in restaurant, take her to a drive-in movie. Share a bucket of popcorn, a large soda, a bag of Twizzlers, and maybe a kiss before the movie is over.

Just stay for one feature, and then take her for a little dancing and a drink. There are a lot of tribute bands that play the music of the popular bands from the 70s or 80s, and a lot of 50s and 60s groups too, not to mention a host of Elvis impersonators who are always playing somewhere.

Of course, you can’t make every date a reenactment of the old days, but you can always treat her with the same energy, deference and excitement that you treated your dates with back in high school or college.

The music, the conversation, and the little physical thrills go a long way to adding some youthful excitement that just has a way of making dating so much fun.