Basing this on some mighty lonely experiences living alone in the big city and essentially working my butt off, I found it almost impossible meeting someone.
Working in retail in Soho, the most amount of interaction I had with the opposite sex were usually gay. Sigh. It was just one of the biggest dry spells I had and all I wanted was to be adored and wined and dined. Why was it so hard? I didn't think I was ugly and I do usually have some confidence when it comes to dating.
It wasn't until after venting with my mother of all people, where she swore to me how good it was to online date when you really just don't have the time to put yourself out there in real life. This coming from the mom already made me embarrassed and the fact that she was giving me dating advice altogether made me feel like I hit an all time low. But what the hell, I had nothing to loose and I was living somewhere where no one knew me.
So on I went, looking up the most suitable social media dating sites, just advertising myself and throwing myself in the gauntlet of online dating. I did my research and it seemed like the cool thing to do was, at 23 years old, go on OkCupid. It was less embarrassing than going on others and full committing and paying a monthly fee. Because still, I was embarrassed as it was. I really didn't know what to expect. I put a few pictures up, answered all those ridiculous questions and I just waited until I got a bite. And boy did I get a bite.
It was extremely overwhelming. I was getting over 100 emails a day from the most random and creepy people. I won't say that they were all creepy; there were few hopefuls but it felt like all these dudes in my age demographic was using these sites to essentially get people in bed. And that wasn't the reason I was doing it. I have a bit more self-respect than that.
I took the opportunity that some decent guys offered me and I actually went on dates with people from the Internet. I still felt really weird about it but I really had nothing to lose, maybe except my life, because who the heck knows who these people really are any way. Ladies, I shouldn't have to say this because you should already know this, but if you are going on an online date you need to meet in a public setting and have your friend on speed dial just in case you have to get out of there! Hello!
That's exactly what I did. I went on three dates with three different dudes and went 0 for 3. The first was a disappointment where as he just thought I was hot and didn't care what I had to say. The second one had the balls to ask my best friend (who I begged to join with me on the site) out also and basically wanted a three-way thing (I wish I was kidding). And the third was literally the most quiet boring person on the face of the planet. He barely spoke a word and probably wanted to see if I really looked the way I looked in real life like in my pictures. What a creep.
So what I am getting at here is I really don't think people in their 20's are putting themselves out there online for the right reasons. But I am not saying it isn't a successful approach to finding the "one." I just think that you need to be older, with the right mindset, because it is definitely possible. The reason my mom pushed me to do this anyway is because she found the love of her life online, and is still with him today. It is definitely possible, but to me, now it isn't. What do you think about online dating? Share your story!
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