As women, we are surrounded by magazines, celebrities and unhealthy ideals about female beauty. It can be very damaging to a woman’s self-confidence and this can really have an impact on how you date. When it comes to looking for your match, it can be easy to measure yourself up against people of the same sex and compare physical attributes. It’s even easier to dismiss your matches, based on how you think they see you. But it’s time we change our thinking. We are, after all, real people, with real bodies, going on real dates – and we are all deserving of love in our lives!

“Men want a supermodel”

A common thought for women is that men are looking for physical perfection above all else. This is certainly not the case. Men have crushes but they are more than likely looking for a real woman. We live in the real world after all. And Gigi Hadid probably isn’t looking to date Tony, 56 from Dagenham either. Other people do not prioritise the attributes we think they do.

“I am self-conscious about X, Y & Z”

Chances are, you have a few hang-ups when it comes to how you feel about yourself, and we are here to tackle them:

* Whether you are on the curvy side or the slender side, your body type shouldn’t have any bearing on how attractive you feel and shouldn’t impact on your dating life.

* Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. If you don’t feel beautiful, chances are you aren’t seeing your true self and someone else thinks you are stunning. Try to practice a little bit of self-love before hitting the dating scene.

* As women, we are always feeling like we need to measure up to the next woman, or that perhaps someone else might have more to offer a partner. Once again this is just a symptom of self-doubt and is undoubtedly untrue. You are probably exactly someone else’s type.

*  Sometimes you might not always find yourself in your dream career and might be in a stop-gap job before landing on the jobs ladder. Don’t worry about what your date thinks about what you are doing now. You’d be surprised how attractive ambition can be!

*  We can all be a little nervous about any baggage we have and this can sometimes knock our confidence when looking for a date. Accepting your flaws is a massive step towards taking care of number 1! You. No one is perfect after all.

Quick steps to improve your self-image

If you are struggling with poor self-image, there are some great online resources out there that can help you. Positive Psychology has some interesting tools to explore.

A great plus of changing your inner mindset is that you’re more likely to get what you are after, with your new confidence which can only mean good things for your dating life!

Happy dating!

The Just Singles Team