intentional dating

Summershading: Exposing 2025’s Most Toxic Dating Trend

September 11, 2025

As summer 2025 fades, a new dating term has emerged from viral YouTube videos: summershading. This toxic trend describes the act of cooling off a budding romance during the warm months to chase personal freedom, only to keep the other person dangling with minimal effort. Labeled the worst dating [...]

Boy Sober: The 2025 Dating Detox Trend Taking Over

September 11, 2025

In 2025, a refreshing dating trend is sweeping YouTube and social media: “Boy Sober.” This movement, gaining traction among singles, particularly women and non-binary folks, is all about taking a deliberate break from dating to focus on self-discovery, personal growth, and emotional clarity. [...]

Why You’re Attracting the Wrong People Over and Over Again

July 16, 2025

It’s easy to wonder what’s wrong with the world when every person you date seems to come with the same problems. Emotionally unavailable. Self-absorbed. Avoidant. Always pulling away just when things are starting to feel real. You start to feel cursed, like love is some kind of game rigged [...]

Relationship Anarchy: Loving Freely, but Watch Out for the Pitfalls

July 4, 2025

Let’s talk about something that’s been popping up a lot lately on dating profiles, YouTube interviews, podcasts, and coffee shop conversations: relationship anarchy. It sounds like a contradiction—how can love, something so tender and emotionally rich, be associated with a word like anarchy? [...]

From Escalator to Curve: Redefining Relationship Paths in 2025

July 4, 2025

For as long as many of us can remember, relationships were described like an escalator. You meet, you date, you commit, you move in, you get married, you have kids, and if all goes well, you grow old together in a nice house with a dog and maybe a couple of grandchildren visiting on Sundays. It was [...]

Dating Big vs. Dating Small – What Actually Wins Hearts?

July 1, 2025

We’ve all seen it: flashy videos of couples going on $10 dates versus $10,000 dates. A fast-food burger in the park compared to a helicopter ride over a city skyline. A handmade card versus a diamond bracelet. It’s entertaining, sure. But what does it actually tell us about love? Does spending [...]

Gen Z, Loneliness, and the New Dating Disconnect

July 1, 2025

There’s something quietly happening across the dating world right now, and it’s most visible in the youngest adult generation: Gen Z. On the surface, it looks like endless scrolling, endless options, endless content about love. But beneath the surface? A lot of people are feeling lonely, [...]

Relationship Anarchy: Could It Be the Freedom You Didn’t Know You Needed?

June 13, 2025

Kia ora, it’s your mate Dating Dave—back to dig into a dating trend that’s been bubbling under the surface but is now finding its voice, especially with younger generations. It’s called relationship anarchy, and no, it’s not just about chaos and rebellion. It’s a radical rethink of how [...]

5 Must-Know Tips for Dating in 2025 (Post-Divorce)

June 4, 2025

Coming out of a divorce is like stepping into a new chapter—with no clear roadmap. Whether it ended peacefully or painfully, you’re carrying years of shared history, growth, and (let’s be honest) some emotional scar tissue. Re-entering the dating world after that? It can feel like being [...]

Tips on Dating in 2025: Maximizing Your Love Life

June 4, 2025

If you’re out here dating in 2025 and feeling a bit overwhelmed, you’re not alone. It’s a weird time to be single—apps feel stale, everyone’s “busy,” and expectations keep shifting like sand under your feet. But here’s the good news: love is still alive and well. It’s just [...]

How to Raise Your Standards and Find Your Person

June 1, 2025

Let’s get something straight right off the bat: raising your standards doesn’t make you picky, demanding, or hard to please. It makes you powerful. It means you’ve learned enough from heartbreak, ghosting, mind games, and bare-minimum effort to say, “Not anymore.” It means you’re no [...]

Letting Go of What Love ‘Should’ Look Like

May 28, 2025

Most of us grow up surrounded by love stories—movies, songs, fairy tales, and even social media. We’re taught what love “should” feel like: butterflies, passion, instant chemistry, grand gestures, dramatic reunions. And while that version of love can be thrilling, it often leads to [...]

Why Everyone’s Looking for Something Real in 2025

May 28, 2025

It’s 2025, and swiping fatigue is real. The novelty of dating apps has long worn off. Most people have stories of “the one who ghosted,” “the one who breadcrumbed,” or “the one who seemed perfect but just wanted attention.” After years of dating that felt more like a game than a [...]

The Impact of Dating Apps on Modern Relationships

May 26, 2025

There’s no denying that dating apps have changed the way people meet. Once a fringe or even taboo way to find love, dating apps are now the default method for millions of singles. Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and countless niche apps have reshaped the dating landscape in ways we’re only just [...]