Dating : There is hope!

Dating : There is hope!

I (30F) have been a long time lurker here and have seen a lot of frustration from many posters about the state of the dating world and all of the negatives associated with online dating specifically. I don’t deny that dating just totally sucks sometimes and it can feel so empty and hopeless after meeting or chatting with person after person with no spark or no potential to develop anything deep or meaningful with. I definitely have felt that way at times. But I just wanted to send a bit of encouragement that things aren’t always as hopeless as they seem. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of a perspective change (along with some persistence!) I had been on so many awful dates and had so many boring dead end conversations that I truly started to believe that I’d either die alone or settle for something that was just a bad fit. However, about a year ago I matched with a guy accidentally (i.e. I accidentally swiped right) who was outside the arbitrary parameters I had set for myself and what I thought would make for good partner material, whatever that meant. He started chatting with me and for some reason we exchanged numbers. I still can’t remember exactly how that happened. But he wasn’t my type and I knew it, so I was non-committal about meeting (because I’m the worst) and let the conversation fizzle out. Fast forward 6months after that and what do you know, we cross paths in real life and have some small insignificant interaction. I found myself surprised at how much more interesting he came across as in person and worked up the courage to text him an apology for essentially ghosting him (amazingly I still had his number saved.) I wasn’t even sure if he realized we had matched in the past or even recognized me at all. He did.

We’ve now been dating for 6mo and just can’t get enough of each other. I can’t believe I almost missed out on him because I had decided that he wasn’t “my type”based on 5 bad pictures and a “boring profile.” He now deservingly teases me about it every chance he gets and I’m sure will never let me live it down.

Essentially, my point is that the universe was kind to me and gave me another chance even though my narrow-mind didn’t deserve it…and I am so thankful for that. So chin up! There is hope! In addition to that persistence it may just take a paradigm shift… and a bit of luck.