The first time going on a date or you are someone who had a bad marriage and is now starting to date again, the experience each time is new. There are a ton of online veteran dating sites that you can start with to open up. Dating anxiety is common and is normal, but if it is putting pressure on you where you are unable to make conversations at the table, you need help.

Veterans often suffer from dating anxiety as for them switching back to civilian life and look for partners is not easy. Post-traumatic stress due to the hardships they faced serving in the military are experiences that are out of the ordinary. You don't get to witness such problems and hardships in your life. Veterans deal through a lot, and their experiences can be quite ugly and hard to forget, which is why some veterans cannot find a place for themselves in civilian life.

You can kill the dating anxiety where you will forget how to be shy and timid. But, you got to work on it! Learn the ways that can help you become confident and not be shy. These five simple steps can help you overcome dating anxiety:

1. Practice to Share Feelings:

Self-disclosure is what you need. If you can practice being more open about your feelings, it can help you grow and be less anxious. People often feel constricted, which leads them to stress and anxiety. If not addressed in time, these issues can lead to depression.

You can help yourself! Save yourself from going to a counselor or a psychiatrist later. If you can be open about your feelings, there will be less anxiety in your heart, and you will come out to be a confident person. Practice telling how you feel amongst your near and dears. If you don’t like something, speak up, and if you do, appreciate it.

Veteran Dating is easy start by taking baby steps! But try and reciprocate feelings amongst your friends and family. If you can achieve this, you will feel more confident about your dates where you can speak about your likes and dislikes without having to think twice. Communication becomes stronger, and the other person starts to understand the wonderful personality that you are.

2. You are sexy and you know it!

Don’t be too worried about your looks. Acceptance is the key! You are wonderful the way you are, and there can be no other like you. Self-critical nature, too worried about the way you look, thinking from other's perspectives, and losing self-confidence is a regressing nature. Stop it immediately!

Feel blessed every single day. Think of the wonderful people you have around you, and how important you are to them. Maybe in the past, someone might have let you down by talking about the way you look, if it did happen, that person is nor worth you. A person with a petty mindset can only think as low to humiliate someone of their looks. You are way above and beyond! Believe in yourself that you are sexy, good looking, and charming personality. So what if a date goes bad! Don’t let the confidence in you shatter. The person who is meant to be will appreciate the good in you!

3. Let haters talk!

You cannot stop people from talking! People who are judgmental and too quick on talking behind someone’s back are anyway not worth keeping in one’s life. If you are someone who gets affected by what other people think of you, this is one characteristic that is pulling you down. No wonder you will have dating anxiety because of the fear of what the other person might think of you can drive you crazy.

4. Let go of the fear of rejection

Why is it your fear? Why so apprehensive about the fear of getting rejected by the person on the date? If someone doesn’t want to pull off a romantic relationship, don’t think that they rejected you. Everyone has a list in their head on how they want their partner to be. You too have it, right?

Don’t be anxious if someone doesn’t want to go out on a second date. Don’t be self-critical and hard upon yourself. The right person, you are still yet to find!

Life is full of opportunities, but it is the unnecessary thinking and negative thoughts that turn one person to become a pessimist.

Fear is mere imagination, overcome it, and you will see how light and fresh you will feel. If you become carefree for a little time, you will feel as if nothing is worth exaggerating anymore. You will become peaceful from within, and that will help you to be more charismatic and attractive to the person on a date. When there is no fear, you can express yourself better and that is what finding a partner is all about!

5. Live in the moment

Don’t cling on to your past. Let bygones be bygones and when you meet a person, think of it as a new moment of your life and learn to live in that moment. Sometimes it can happen that when we are on a date, some gesture or expression by the person can remind us of something awkward, we might have faced before. Overlook it and don't let it fog your mind. This person is not aware of your past life, you should not bring it on the table either. Give yourself and this person time to evaluate how things are between you two. That can only be if you let go of your past experiences and judgmental nature, and learn to live in the moment.