Five Tips to Help You Break Out of a Dating Rut

It happens to everyone at one point or another: you get so caught up in the day-to-day process of your life that you don't even realize you've fallen into a dating rut until you're sitting in a coffee shop, watching everyone else hold hands across the table, and find yourself promising the same things (you're going to find A Special Someone before the year is out, you're going to 'get out there' more, it's not you, it's them...). Read on for five singles dating tips on how to break out of that rut and have fun, too.

1) Break away from your conventions. Maybe you only date a certain type of gal or guy; maybe you always say the same things on a first date. Whatever your dating conventions are, make an attempt to escape them. Do something different in your approach, and your choice of settings and people. Stepping out of your comfort zone in this way can open up a whole new world of possibilities.

2) Pick up a hobby. Here's a cold, brutal fact you must consider: you might be boring. It's well enough to have a good job, an attractive appearance, and a mouthful of compliments at the ready, but if you don't have any hobbies or interests to discuss, dating conversations are going to drag. Take up a sport, or a class, or anything that piques your interest and devote some time to it. You might meet eligible people while you're there, and even if you don't, the next time you're trying to fill a silence while on a date, you have something to talk about.

3) Consider a dating site. Sure, you make fun of them while the commercials are playing on TV; you don't think some company's complex algorithm is going to find what you've been unable to locate all these years. But consider that online dating services are becoming increasingly popular and enrolling into one or several could considerably widen your circles. Warning: do be sure to take it slow, and always meet somewhere public and populated the first time. Credible sites like EHarmony and Match.Com are a good place to start.

4) Let yourself be set up. So your friends are all paired up and you're in a dating rut, that doesn't mean you should let them set you up on dates, right? Wrong! Although you may not want to hear their singles dating tips (considering a lot of them aren't even single anymore), it may still be worthwhile to let them play matchmaker when you're in a rut. At the very least, you're getting out and meeting new people, and considering your friends often know you best, they may just pick someone good.

5) Re-evaluate your expectations. Of course you shouldn't settle for just anyone, but it is still important to keep your expectations realistic. If you're holding out for Angelina Jolie, you're never going to escape your rut. Instead, try and narrow down your list to a couple of really important qualities and hold your dates to those standards.

Falling into a dating rut is a danger singles everywhere face, but that doesn't mean there is no hope of escaping one! Follow these five singles dating tips to keep things fresh and full of potential.