When people say they dread dating what they nearly almost always mean is that they dread the drama that often goes along with it.
If the idea of dating without drama appeals to you, you've come to the right place. Here are ten tips that are guaranteed to make your dating drama free.

TEN TIPS FOR DATING WITHOUT DRAMA

1. Be honest with your dates. You should be as honest with your dates as is consistent with kindness. Brutal honesty is not required. But you shouldn't spin elaborate tales to spare feelings. Keep it light, but keep it real.

2. Don't reward dramatic behavior. Instead, ignore it. If it persists, despite your refusal to validate it, then you are better off without this particular individual in your life. See tip number 6.

3. Know what you're looking for in a date - and what you're not looking for. A lot of drama in dating is the result of people being at cross-purposes. When you know what you're after, and refuse to settle for less, you'll find that the potential for drama in your dating declines, well, dramatically.

4. Treat your dates with respect, and insist that they reciprocate. This means returning phone calls, being on time, and treating your dates as people of value rather than conquests. The Golden Rule comes to mind here.

5. Don't gossip. I don't know exactly why giving up the gossip habit reduces drama in your dating, and in your life generally, but it does. Resist the urge to gossip when dating, and discourage your dates from gossiping to you.

6. Date a lot of people. This seems counter-intuitive. Wouldn't dating a lot of people increase drama? Well, no. The purpose of dating is to find a romantic partner, perhaps a life partner. If you restrict your dating to one person the stakes are inordinately high, and drama is the inevitable result. If you are dating three or four people, you won't be drawn into dramatic situations. Instead, you'll ditch the drama king or queen, and go out instead with one of your other dates.

7. Don't kiss and tell. A lot of drama in dating comes, not from the people you are actually dating, but from friends, family, and hangers-on. If you keep your own counsel you'll remove this source of drama from the equation.

8. Realize that you aren't responsible for other people's feelings. It's tempting to feel that you have control over the feelings of your dates, with the attendant responsibility that comes along with this control. But you can't control how

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