8 Things You Hate About First Dates And 7 Things You Love

First dates are a pretty crazy thing. On the one hand, you could literally meet the best person ever and this relationship could be truly life-changing. On the other hand, you could have another truly miserable evening that makes you wonder why you even bother. It's a toss-up and you never really know what to expect or what's going to happen. You've definitely come to terms with the fact that you both adore and loathe first dates. Whenever you think that you're leaning more toward one way than the other, something happens to make you realize that you just can't make up your mind. But since you want to meet your one true love, you kind of have to go on a first date every once in a while. You might as well enjoy it… well, at least sort of. You can do that, right?!

Here are 8 things you hate about first dates and 7 things you love.

15 Hate: How Awkward It Is

If there's one thing that literally everyone can agree on about first dates, it's that they are insanely awkward. There's really no way that they wouldn't be, right? You're sitting across from someone that you either don't know at all (if it's an online date) or someone that you barely know (if you met him at work or through friends or it's a set-up). The very thought of this makes you shudder all over. Plus you have to make eye contact and if you think the guy is totally hot, it totally freaks you out. If you don't think he's cute or you're just not attracted to him because he's not your type, then looking across the table into his eyes kind of weirds you out as well. You really can't win here and every single moment is going to be awkward, whether you get along with him or think it's the worst date ever. You hate it, though.

14 Love: Getting Ready

There's something super special and lovely about getting ready for a first date. You put on your best feel good music (usually something by Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift, let's be real here). You give yourself an entire hour (or sometimes even more) to get ready. You take more time with your hair, your make-up, and you try on a billion outfits before you finally decide what to wear. But there's an art to getting ready for first dates and this is it: you don't want the guy to know that you spend so much time fussing over your appearance. That would be the worst thing ever. You want him to think that you look amazing, of course, but you want the amount of time that it takes to look this good to stay a total mystery. It's a tricky balance but you can do it. Okay, now you kind of want to go on a first date so you can get ready for one…

13 Hate: Small Talk

Another thing that you hate about first dates? That would definitely be the small talk. Oh man, you can't even handle how much you hate this. You don't want to talk about random stuff like the weather or the service in the restaurant or anything else. You want to have a real, deep conversation that lets you show this guy who you are and also allows you to figure out what kind of person he is… and most importantly if he's going to be the guy for you. Sure, that might seem like you're putting a whole lot of pressure on the first date, and, well, maybe you are. But you don't think that's a bad thing. In fact, you think it's great since you do want to find someone that you really care about and so taking the date seriously is the best thing that you could do. If you want someone casual, then go ahead and have a casual conversation. But if you want to commit to someone, then you have to leave small talk far behind.

12 Love: The Start Of Something New

Sometimes, when a first date is pretty good or at least good enough, you feel this shiny happy feeling in your stomach… and it is the feeling that this is totally the start of something new. You do not know where it is going to lead. You do not even know if it is going to go anywhere at all. But for now, in this moment, you like this guy and you think that you might have a shot at a second date. And sometimes, that is more than you can even hope for, so it is a pretty big deal. It is a really amazing feeling since it is often a surprise when you actually like someone. It is like finding a diamond in the rough or something. And there is just something about the start of something new, like the beginning of a new season, a new year, a new semester… you do not know what it is but you can't help the feeling.

11 Hate: To Flirt Or Not To Flirt

When it comes to first dates, this is the question. You might be the best flirt out here… or you might absolutely hate it. But even if you're good at flirting, that doesn't mean that you enjoy doing it on first dates. In fact, you still hate it because you don't know if it's the right thing to do or not. What if you get super flirty and the guy totally rejects you because you misread the signs and signals and he actually thinks you should just be friends? What if he's a really decent person but a bad flirt and super shy, so he's going to feel super uncomfortable if you act flirty? It's all kinds of awkward and it's never something that you're going to enjoy doing. So when it comes to first dates, you hate the whole to flirt or not to flirt thing. You wish there was something that you could do about this but unfortunately, you have to grin and bear it.

10 Love: Feeling Normal

The thing about first dates is that they make you feel totally and completely normal. It's not that you don't feel normal most of the time… okay, it totally is that way. You can't help it. When you're single, you wonder why you're still on your own and if something's seriously wrong with you. Sure, you love yourself and you're confident and you're happy with who you are and your place in life… but you still think that something must be off for you to still be single. That's just the way that it goes. When you go on a first date, though, everything changes and you feel normal. If you have an awesome date, you feel normal since you might have a real chance at getting a boyfriend and that's just the best feeling ever. If you have a bad date, well, you still feel pretty normal since you know that every single woman goes on bad dates sometimes. You feel like part of the crew or something.

9 Hate: Being Disappointed

If you're pretty used to going on first dates (which you probably are if you're single) then you know that there's nothing like getting disappointed on a date. You can't help it. You tell yourself that this will be the time that you will finally stop hoping that you will meet your soulmate on this date… and you will be okay with it. You will be cool, calm and collected and as mature as you can possibly be. Of course, it never works out that way. Instead, you find yourself getting disappointed on each first date that you go on, and this is something that you really hate about first dates. You've tried thinking that the date is going to suck anyway so you might as well not hope for anything. But that theory doesn't work out so well, either, since then you wonder what the point of going on the date is in the first place.

8 Love: Having An Actual Experience

The cool thing about first dates is that when you go on them, you feel like you're having an actual experience. You're not just sitting at home on your couch watching The Real Housewives (even though you totally love doing that and it's basically your dream night). You're out there in the world, at a bar or restaurant, talking to someone and trying to see if you like them enough to go on a second date and maybe even start a relationship with them. When you think of it like that, it's pretty cool. Even if you have a horrible date where you are super bored and don't get along with the guy at all, it's still really cool. You always want a first date to be more of an actual experience than just staring at a stranger and realizing that you have literally nothing in common, but hey, that happens and you learn to live with it.

7 Hate: Being Yourself

It may sound silly that you hate being yourself on a first date, but it's honestly something that you loathe about this whole deal. That's because when you're yourself, chances are, 9 times out of ten the person sitting across from you just isn't going to get it. He won't understand your quirky sense of humor or even that you're making a joke at all. He might even say something that is borderline insulting or even mean. You know that you have to be proud of who you are and that there's no point trying to find someone to share your life with if you're not going to be fully yourself. But you do hate that sometimes, the other person doesn't get your real self, and you hate how bad that makes you feel. You just don't need this kind of negativity in your life and it's another reason why going on so many first dates is such a tough experience.

6 Love: Having Fun

When you have a good date, you actually manage to have some fun, and when you stop pinching yourself because you can't believe that this is happening, you realize that this is something that you really love about first dates. It's the best feeling in the world when you meet someone new and realize that you not only are crazy attracted to them, but you get along with them, too. Pretty awesome… and pretty life-changing, too. When you can have fun and enjoy yourself instead of wondering how much longer you have to sit there and when you can escape to the bathroom to text your BFF about how much the evening sucks, you realize that you love this whole first date thing. It's pretty fun when it works out. Sometimes you even have fun on a first date when it doesn't end up going anywhere, and that's okay too, since it proves that you don't have to be in negative headspace about the whole thing.

5 Hate: Saying Goodbye

OMG. If there is anything worse than saying goodbye on a first date, then you need to know what it is. The crazy thing about this is that you hate saying goodbye if you had a bad time and you hate it if you had a great time, too. It's just super awkward and basically the weirdest thing ever. If you admit that you had fun and he didn't, then you can see the disappointment on his face and you're going to start feeling absolutely horrible. If you admit that you had fun and he tells you that he did, too, then it's still all kinds of awkward because you don't know what to do next. Do you go in for a kiss or is that something that he needs to do? Do you suggest a second date or, again, do you wait for him to suggest that? If you had the worst night ever and want to get away from this person as fast as possible, then the question of how to end the evening is pretty tough since you don't want to hurt his feelings… but you don't want to lead him on, either. Ugh.

4 Love: The Excitement

When you stop thinking about how much dating sucks and worrying about how much longer it's going to take until you can meet your soulmate, you start to realize that first dates are pretty exciting. They really and truly are. Think about it: you never know who you're going to meet. You never know what kind of night you're going to have. Sure, it could be another dull evening that makes you want to pull your hair out and stop dating entirely. But it could also be the complete opposite. It could be the moment when you meet your future husband and you could realize that you have finally found the kind of person that you have been searching for since forever. That's a pretty powerful thing and it's worth going on first dates for. When you have that kind of date, you realize that all the other bad dates were leading you there and it's been a real journey.

3 Hate: The Post-Date Text Message

Okay. You found something worse than saying goodbye at the end of a first date. It's the post-date text message. You want to be a modern woman and all that but you still think that the guy should send a text after the first date. You just roll that way. It proves to you that this guy likes you, that he's thinking about you, and that he wants to see you again. But sometimes… well, sometimes, you want to see this guy again so badly that you send the post-date text message. You just cross your fingers and take a deep breath and go for it, stereotypes and tradition be damned. Sometimes it's even bad when the guy does text you because then you have to spend forever figuring out what to say back (and asking your BFFs, of course, since they definitely need to be involved). Yup, this is something that you hate about first dates, that's for sure.

2 Hate: A String Of Bad Dates

Another thing that you hate about first dates? Going on another… and another… and another. You can't stand when you find yourself going on a string of bad dates. You feel like you're going crazy or something and like there's something seriously wrong with you. Do your best friends go on so many bad dates? No, it doesn't seem like it… or at least if they do, they keep it to themselves and they don't tell you. Maybe you should start keeping your awful dates to yourself. But then again, that would suck even more than the dates themselves since you really want to get your friends' advice. You need other people to feel your pain as much as you do and help you feel better. You're waiting for the day that you go on a good first date and can finally say goodbye to your cycle of awful ones, but so far, that's just not happening.

1 Love: The Chance To Meet Your True Love

Think about the point of a first date. It's not to have a terrible evening. It's not to be bored out of your mind. It's not to wonder what you did in a past life to deserve this kind of torture. Nope. It's really not about any of that (because, well, those things are super negative). The point of a first date is to have the chance to meet your true love. You may think that you're being crazy or a silly hopeless romantic when you approach dating this way, but you're really not. You're just full of hope and that's okay. You should want love. It's not a bad thing. Everyone else around you has love in their lives, right? They're in super happy relationships, so why can't you have that, too? Exactly. You should totally want that for yourself. When you do find your one true love on a first date, you will honestly love the whole thing, and that's the truth.