1. You are (mostly) over your last heartbreak. Your heart doesn’t have to be one-hundred percent healed, but it should be stitched together enough to handle a new love. You don’t want to get into a new relationship too early and end up hurting the other person because you’re unwilling to commit again. Know where you stand. Know how much your heart can handle. If you’re only interested in something casual for now, that’s fine. Just make sure you let the other person know so there aren’t any mixed signals.
2. You’ve worked on growing more independent. You don’t want to get into a relationship because you’re scared of surviving on your own, because you feel like you don’t have what it takes to take care of yourself. You need to prove to yourself you can get by. You need to show yourself you’re capable of handling yourself emotionally and practically. You shouldn’t get into a relationship because you need a partner. You should get into a relationship because you want a partner.
3. You don’t feel like you’re forcing a connection. You don’t want to jump back into the dating pool too early because you feel like you should. You don’t want to be peer pressured by society to change your relationship status before you’re really ready. If you’re going on a date, make sure the connection is there. Make sure this is something you actually want to do, not something you feel like you need to do since you’ve been alone for so long.
4. You have a good idea of what you want out of a relationship. You don’t need to have your whole future figured out, but it’s easier to date after you’ve identified which qualities in a partner are important to you and which are dealbreakers. That way, you can scratch some people right off your list. You won’t need to waste time with them. You can skip straight to a person who has more potential.
5. You’ve been trying to shed your toxic traits. You’re not perfect. You have your faults. You have your insecurities. If you were overly jealous in your last relationship, or if you were always snooping on your partner’s texts because you have trust issues, you should work on feeling more secure in yourself. You should make sure you’re going into your next relationship with as little baggage as possible. You’re not going to be a perfect partner, but what matters is that you’re trying to do your best.
6. You understand your worth. It’s not true that you need to love yourself before someone else can love you. However, you should never settle for less than you deserve — and when you know your worth it’s easier to weed out the people who treat you like crap. Even though it’s hard, you should try to remind yourself how beautiful and intelligent and strong you are. Remind yourself you don’t need to bend over backward to make a relationship work because the right person will see your value from the start. 
