Jess Matthews, the 290th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, made an interesting discovery while in detox.

When you consciously abstain from something, Jess learnt, you immediately gain a much clearer insight into that thing, including why you needed it, how you used it and how it affected you.

In Jess’s case, she took a detox from the opposite sex, after doing a lot of dating and having an unhappy relationship experience.

Since then, Jess has built a business, The Boy Detox, through which she provides coaching about dating, relationships and sex, and publishes interesting, insightful blogs.

One might expect a dating expert to be boisterous, but Jess is actually introverted. That’s very helpful in her line of work, because it means she’s a good listener, asks helpful questions and makes thoughtful observations.