10 Signs You Need a Romantic Reality Check

10 Signs You Need a Romantic Reality Check

(Courtesy of Match.com)

Oh, the love lives we imagine for ourselves! Strolls on the beach at sunset (or sunrise, or under a moonlit sky). Champagne and candlelight. Adoring gazes exchanged for hours before a crackling fire. Moments of passion on secluded tropical beaches. Beds strewn with red rose petals.

If our profiles are any indication, once we hook up with our soul mates we'll live charmed romantic lives. Or should we call them fantasy lives?

Poor reality. It has so much more substance, and yet we never quite forgive its lack of style. Real love is what you've got if it's built to last for years and stay with you even when your toned muscles go soft, your joints go pop at the slightest provocation, and your hair goes gray (or just goes).

To improve your chances of finding real (not fantasy) love online, test your expectations against this reality check:

1. How heavily does your description of your perfect relationship rely on quotes from your favorite poem, song, or movie?

2. You know that "perfect relationship" is an oxymoron, right?

3. All kidding aside, you do know that (John Cusack, Halle Berry, whomever) and you aren't really going to meet someday and just "click" instantly ... don't you?

4. When your best friend waits anxiously for a new love interest to call, do you find yourself a little jealous and missing the "excitement" of a relationship in its early, uncertain stage? If you suddenly couldn't count on your honey to call, would that really excite you?

5. How well does your wish for a soul mate whose face can light up an entire room stack up against the way your face looks when you stumble into the bathroom in the morning?

6. It's important to you to date someone who really loves kids ... do you date teachers, or don't they make enough money?

7. You're 45, and you're seeking a woman between 25 and 40. So let me get this straight: You'd turn down Susan Sarandon, Isabella Rossellini and Elizabeth Pe?a?

8. You're 5'4", and you won't date guys who are shorter than 6'. So let me get this straight: You'd turn down Marc Anthony, Denzel Washington and Matt Damon?

9. Do you have a really clear idea, down to the minute details, of what life with your true love will be? Do you also have the flexibility to accept that your (soul mate) may have just as clearly imagined something different for the two of you?

10. Ask yourself: Does your true love really have to be equally comfortable in jeans and evening wear? Or will uncomfortable but not unwilling do the trick?

Reality check: There might not be just one person for you, so wake up and start a quick search for many people who may fit your criteria!