I get more emails from people during the holiday season than during any other time of the year.  What is so interesting to me about those emails is that the majority of them are from people who say the holiday season makes them feel especially down and discouraged about their dating life.

These emails generally have one of two types of comments.  One type are emails that say things like “David, I am so down right now because I don’t have anybody with whom to share the holidays.”  The other type of emails say something like this: “David, the holiday season is such a lonely time of the year.  It’s just such a bad time to try and meet someone.”

So many people who are single tend to walk around unhappy during the holiday season.  I’ve got to tell you, though, that I feel the exact opposite way about being single and meeting someone during the holidays.

I find the holiday season to be a great time to meet someone, because people are very vulnerable during the holidays.  What I mean by vulnerable, is that people are actually more open to meeting someone than they normally are because the holiday season makes them aware of what is going on in their lives (and makes it impossible to hide from those things).

So I want to help all of you to see the holiday season the way that I do, as the very best time of the year to meet someone. Here are five reason why the holiday season is the best time of the year to meet someone and some tips on how to meet someone during the holiday season:

  1. People Have Taken Year-End Inventory: By the time the holiday season comes, most people have already taken inventory of what the year has been like.  The end of the year is a time to reflect.  You reflect back on what has happened in your life.  You reflect back on the people you’ve dated during the past year, or on the lack of dates you had during the past year.  You might think back on on some of your dating “near misses” or the people you met with whom you just didn’t end up connecting.

During this time of the year, many people are more vulnerable because they do not want to  spend the holidays alone.  Due to this vulnerability, many people during this time of the year will be friendlier if you try to engage them in conversation.  The holiday season entails several holidays back-to-back, and people don’t want to spend one holiday alone, let alone more than one.  So keep this in mind about how people are feeling during the holiday season, and start being a little more friendly.

  1. You Can Go Christmas Shopping Every Single Day: As you are probably well aware, the Christmas shopping season seems to begin before we’ve even taken our pumpkins off the porch, which means that there are a lot of days to go out Christmas shopping.  You can go out Christmas shopping every single day (whether you are actually out there looking for Christmas presents or not) during the holiday season.  One of my favorite things to do to meet someone during the holidays is to go Christmas shopping and get opinions.  This is really the one time of the year when you can venture into and wander around in stores in which you would not normally feel comfortable.

If you are a man, you can head into the women’s department and bop around getting opinions on a present for your sister.  If you are a woman, you can head into the men’s department doing the same thing asking opinions about a gift for your brother.  Go into stores and departments where there are lots of things to ask people’s opinions about and about which you can ask questions.  It makes for a very easy way to start a conversation.  You can start a conversation with virtually anyone by taking or pointing out an item in a store and saying “Excuse me, I am shopping for my boss (or brother, sister or mother).  What is your opinion on this?”  It is a great and easy way to talk to someone.

  1. People Are More Open: I have noticed that during the holiday season people are actually more open to giving someone of the opposite sex a chance whom they may not be as open to during the rest of the year.  During the rest of the year, a lot of people will not give someone a chance if they are not overly attracted to them or due to the fact that they feel they have lots of opportunities to meet other people (like during the summer party season).  As it gets closer to winter, and especially during the holiday season, people tend to become more open and more willing to go out and date people they otherwise wouldn’t.  This is another reason that this time of the year is a great time to be out there meeting people.  You can take advantage of all the people who are so much more open, and have so many more potential connections right next to you ever day of the season.
  1. No One Wants To Spend New Year’s Eve Alone: We have all been to New Year’s Eve parties where we’ve had to endure the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown without someone to kiss at midnight.  It’s not fun.  No one likes to spend New Year’s Eve alone.  For this reason, there are a lot of people looking to hook up with someone in time for New Year’s Eve. So how can you meet all these people?  Well, the holiday season offers a number of really fun (and easy) ways to approach someone and to make yourself very approachable.

You can walk around with a little Santa cap on spreading some holiday cheer.  Another fun thing to do is walk around with your dog wearing reindeer antlers on its head.  One fun thing I had the guys do at one of my bootcamps was to play the “naughty or nice” game with women.  This entailed them wearing Santa caps and carrying around stockings filled with candy canes.  They would walk up to women (and women could do this with men) and say “I will give you a candy cane if you tell me whether you’ve been naughty or nice and why.”  There are a million fun little ways to use holiday-type props to meet people, and with all the holiday hustle and bustle people often appreciate a little bit of fun.

  1. You Have Unlimited Fun Things To Do: One of the biggest reasons that the holiday season is such a good time to meet someone is because there is so much going on and so many fun things to do.  You can find a seemingly endless list of fun things to go out and do during the holiday season where you can have a blast.  If you are familiar with what I teach, you know that I am a firm believer that you naturally attract people when you do things you enjoy and are genuinely enjoying your life.

Going to holiday-related events is another way to have fun and meet a lot of people.  Check out events happening in and around your town.  A lot of shops will stay open late on a Friday night or towns will have things like Christmas Walks on store-filled streets wherein all the stores will have open-house type events.  These type of events are great places to go and engage lots of people in conversation.  It’s amazing how many people you can engage and with whom you can end up in great conversations just by wishing them a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.

The holiday season is also the perfect time for you to create all sorts of fun activities.  These can be great places to meet someone.  For example, you can create your own “Secret Santa Holiday Party” where you invite single people and tell them to bring a gift for someone else who is single.  You could also have a holiday party where you ask your guests to bring someone to the party whom no one else has met.  It allows you to start building your network and gives you the opportunity to meet a lot more people.  Come up with some other kind of theme party.  Pick anything that sounds fun to you.

These are some “term insurance policies” that I like to think about during the holiday season.  They’re simple, they’re basic and they work.  Everyone is looking to meet someone during this time of the year.

So try having a new mindset this holiday season.  Instead of thinking about what you didn’t have during the past year, why not be thankful for the things you’ve accomplished and go out with a bang at the end of the year?

Start engaging people a lot more, and you just might surprise yourself this holiday season.  Then when 5-4-3-2-1 comes around, you just might looking into the eyes of that new person you met during the holiday season.