Yesterday was Labor Day and like thousands of other people, I spent the day at the beach.  The weather was beautiful and it was totally relaxing. I love just hanging out under my umbrella, reading, and watching all the activity.  One person who caught my eye was a man who was walking along the beach with a metal detector. You’ve seen those guys, trolling the beach, hunting for treasure. As I watched him I couldn’t help but laugh at an analogy that came to mind. Looking for that new special somebody is a lot like hunting for treasure on the beach.  First of all, there’s an awful lot of ground to cover.  Along the way, it’s likely that you’ll come upon something that looks like it might be valuable, but on closer inspection, it appears to be worthless. The hunt requires a lot of patience and perseverance as well as some luck.  There’s no guarantee that you’ll ever find that treasure but think how exciting it will be if you do!

For the rest of the afternoon, I thought about the idea of hunting for treasure. Once I got home, I searched online for information about beach hunting and came upon some interesting articles and websites which only served to support my analogy.  The website www.gometaldetecting.com offers some beach hunting tips that can definitely be applied to dating. For instance, they say there’s a lot more competition out there, so instead of going to the most popular beaches, try a less popular one. This might not be a bad idea in the hunt for love. How many thousands of people are you competing with on those huge internet dating sites?  Perhaps a less popular site with less competition would yield better results; or spending time at a smaller, quieter restaurant or bar rather than one of those meat markets.

Another beach hunting tip offered is, “Stop running around trying to cover the whole beach like there in no tomorrow. Slow down!”  The same can be said for dating. Put yourself out there but don’t be frantic about it; it can be perceived as desperation.

On the other hand, “Watch your coil height, are you one of those that keep it off the ground about a foot? Are you afraid to scratch it? Hmm, maybe that’s why you’re not finding much.”  Same with dating—you have to be in the game and take some chances.

So, don’t be discouraged if your hunt turns up lots of trash. Keep at it and eventually you just may find that buried treasure.