The 6 Stages Of Dating In Your 20s

Though they don’t necessarily happen chronologically, here are several undeniable stages we all cycle through at one point or another.

Thought Catalog
4 min readMay 1, 2023
Megan Ruth

By Heidi Priebe

Let’s face it: our 20s are an incredibly strange time to be looking for love. We are smack-dab in the middle of trying to figure out who we are and at the same time we’re supposed to be getting to know somebody else and working out how they might fit into our lives. As a result, our love lives take a lot of strange turns. Though they don’t necessarily happen chronologically, here are several undeniable stages we all cycle through at one point or another.

1. The empowered/independent stage.

You’re young, you have a bustling life of your own, and you couldn’t care less about settling down. Sure, there are guys or girls you meet at bars who turn into the occasional romp but it’s not a big deal if you ever see them again. You have a thriving career, a busy social calendar, and enough sex appeal to stop anyone dead in their tracks. You avoid relationships because who has time for that drama? You’re loving your life and it’s loving you right on back.

2. The serious stage.

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Thought Catalog

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