We're back with round 4 of the dating terms game - the one where we pull the vocabulary of modern dating out of a hat and try to figure out what it actually means. This round: zombieing (the ex who rises from the dead), benching (yes, you're the backup, not the starter), orbiting (the visible post-breakup socials play), plus the walls vs boundaries conversation that turned into a "mindful and kind" mantra we're now putting on a shirt.If you're dating in your 30s and 40s and beyond after divorce, the vocabulary keeps shifting under your feet. This one's for you.We open with blended family math - specifically the co-parent-flakiness math. What happens when your ex skips the doctor's appointment they were supposed to take, or bails on the birthday party, and you're the primary parent who's tempted to just solve it. Kabrina on the discipline of letting the kids feel the gap. Chris on why "the more you let other people take, the more they'll take" applies to co-parenting AND to dating.Then Kabrina hits Chris with ZOMBIEING - the ex who ghosted you months ago suddenly appearing in your DMs like a resurrection. "Hey stranger." "You're on my mind." No accountability for the disappearance. Just back. We get into why the zombie usually comes back when their next situation collapses, and why answering the DM restarts the whole loop.Walls vs boundaries. Chris tries and fails to make a Jericho joke. The actual distinction: a wall sounds like "nobody will ever love me" or "I always get the short end." A boundary sounds like "here are the specific things that will hurt me, and here's how we work together to be mindful and kind about them." The tell is the superlative. If you catch yourself in an "always" or "never," you're building a wall, not setting a boundary.BENCHING - the roster analogy. "I realized she was benching me when she only called when her first choice fell through." How to spot when you're the backup, and why "second string" isn't a compliment.ORBITING - the modern breakup twist. The ex who watches your stories, likes the vacation post, comments on the YouTube video. Not secretly stalking (that would be silent). Deliberately visible. "I want you to know I'm still around." We get into why orbiting is a soft power play, why it's usually the person who did the breaking up, and how to shut it down without being cruel.What we cover:✓ Blended family math - the co-parent flakiness edition✓ Zombieing: the ex who comes back from the dead✓ Walls vs Boundaries - the superlative tell✓ "Mindful and kind" as the actual mantra✓ Benching - are you the starter or the roster?✓ Orbiting - the visible-on-purpose ex✓ How to spot when you're the one doing any of these✓ Why dating after divorce means finally naming the patternThis one's for you if: you're dating in your 30s and 40s and beyond after divorce, you've been on either side of any of these, or you just want the vocabulary to name what's happening while it's happening.💬 Which one of these got you the hardest? Zombieing? Benching? Orbiting? Drop it in the comments - we're reading every one.🔔 Subscribe for honest, funny conversations about love after divorce in your 30s and 40s and beyond.📚 Resources & Links:🌐 Website: BraveEnoughForLove.com🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3o9B86i28QSt5biD4but0F🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brave-enough-for-love/id1880364062🎧 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a85721e4-20e8-4460-94d5-372e5bb34238/brave-enough-for-love📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BraveEnoughForLove🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@braveenoughforlove📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/braveenoughforlove/📧 Email: info@braveenoughforlove.com#DatingTermsGame #Zombieing #Benching #Orbiting #WallsVsBoundaries #DatingAfterDivorce #LoveAfterDivorce #ModernDating #DatingIn30s #DatingIn40s #BraveEnoughForLove #DivorcePodcast

We're back with our favorite ridiculous game: "what does this modern dating term actually mean?" The vocabulary keeps changing under our feet - situationships, cuffing season, dating detox, ex factor, leaving on read - and if you're dating in your 30s and 40s and beyond after divorce, half of these words didn't exist the last time you were single.So we wrote them on cards and defined them on the mic. The good. The bad. The "this was basically my whole entire marriage."We get into love bombing (Kabrina's "this was my whole marriage" moment, plus the heart-necklaces-from-dad childhood memory that taught her what it felt like), the dating detox Kabrina was about to start the week she met Chris, the speed-dating event she turned into a psychology experiment, the cruelty of leaving someone on read, and the most important one - "you can't make someone love you."Plus: the reticular activating system, the journal entry where Kabrina wrote down exactly who Chris would turn out to be, blended family math (measured in chicken nuggets and toilet paper), and Chris's childhood ninja-samurai stick games. Because we contain multitudes.✓ Multigenerational definitions of "hooking up" - Gen X and Millennial don't agree✓ Dating intentions: how to be honest about whether you want casual or long-term✓ Dating detox - when to give yourself a break, and why "I stopped looking" is when it happens✓ Cuffing season explained (Kabrina thought it was a wedding thing)✓ The ex factor: how an ex weighs into your new relationship, especially with kids✓ Love bombing: the cycle, the control underneath it, and how to spot it✓ Why "leaving on red" steals closure (and the chance to become a better person)✓ Envisioning your ideal partner - the journal entry method that actually works✓ Blended family math: the logistical AND emotional calculus of two families becoming oneThis one's for you if: you're dating after divorce and the language keeps shifting, or you're a year-or-two into a new relationship and recognizing patterns from the last one in real time.💬 Which one of these terms did you have to look up the first time you heard it? Drop it in the comments - we'll roast it (or define it) in the next round.🔔 Subscribe for honest, funny conversations about love after divorce in your 30s and 40s and beyond.📚 Resources & Links:🌐 Website: BraveEnoughForLove.com🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3o9B86i28QSt5biD4but0F🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brave-enough-for-love/id1880364062🎧 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a85721e4-20e8-4460-94d5-372e5bb34238/brave-enough-for-love📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BraveEnoughForLove🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@braveenoughforlove📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/braveenoughforlove/📧 Email: info@braveenoughforlove.com#DatingTermsGame #LoveBombing #CuffingSeason #DatingAfterDivorce #LoveAfterDivorce #ModernDating #DatingIn30s #DatingIn40s #BraveEnoughForLove #DivorcePodcast

The Dating Terms Game is back. Part 2.

Chris and Kabrina decode the new dating vocabulary that's everywhere right now — situationships, halfsey-ships (one person fully in, the other only halfway), breadcrumbing, and the rest. With a closing line we're putting on a t-shirt: "Love is blind. Dating's not."

But first, the opening bit: the marriage hangover. The leftover habits and reflexes you carry out of your first marriage and into your new relationship — like jumping up to do the dishes because there's a 1% chance she might be mad you're not. (She's never been mad. The 1% wins anyway.)

If you're dating in your 30s and 40s and beyond after divorce, or you just want a translator for the language Gen Z is using to date right now, this one's for you.

✓ The "marriage hangover" opener — Chris's dishes-and-the-1%-chance story

✓ The "am I too much?" voice that keeps showing up in your new relationship

✓ The "golden string" metaphor for two whole people who finally found each other

✓ Halfsey-ship explained: when one person is all in and the other shows up halfway

✓ Situationship as a SPECTRUM — and why so many people are accidentally in one

✓ A real script for telling a coworker "no, my partner and I will come to dinner"

✓ "Love is blind. Dating's not." — the line you're going to repeat for a year

This one's for you if: you're dating after divorce and the vocabulary keeps changing under your feet, or you're a year-or-two into a new relationship and you keep catching yourself with reactions that belong to the old one.

💬 What dating term has confused you the most? Drop it in the comments and we'll define it (or roast it) in Part 3.

🔔 Subscribe for honest, funny conversations about love after divorce in your 30s and 40s and beyond.

📚 Resources & Links:

🌐 Website: BraveEnoughForLove.com

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3o9B86i28QSt5biD4but0F

🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brave-enough-for-love/id1880364062

🎧 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a85721e4-20e8-4460-94d5-372e5bb34238/brave-enough-for-love

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BraveEnoughForLove

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@braveenoughforlove

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/braveenoughforlove/

📧 Email: info@braveenoughforlove.com

#DatingTermsGame #Halfseyship #Situationship #DatingAfterDivorce #LoveAfterDivorce #ModernDating #DatingIn30s #DatingIn40s #BraveEnoughForLove #DivorcePodcast #MarriageHangover