Looking around on social media, it looks like a lot of my vaccinated friends are getting ready to head back into the dating world. Personally, I’m in no shape to even THINK about that but you know I still have some feelings about it!
Now I know these days it’s more about Tinder, Bumble, and Grindr but as an introvert, the older apps (think OK Cupid) always felt like they served me a bit better. Seriously, I’ve even written about exactly why. Whatever dating app you pick, know that you are far from alone in using an app to facilitate your love life. Obviously I have done it but also almost everyone I know has and frankly, even those celebrities who you admire are out there on the apps, check these guys out!
Anyway, today I’m looking back at someone of my online dating adventures in the hopes that reviewing my foibles might help you avoid them (or at least you’ll get a good laugh out of the whole thing. So buckle in, folks, because today we’re talking a stroll down memory lane with some of my past (mis)adventures in online dating!
So, when I first started dating online I was on the wrong app entirely– I kept meeting people who were looking for very different things than I was. I finally pieced it together, switched sites and crafted my profile accordingly – with some help from some Reid Mihalko and Cathy Vartuli. This was when I learned that if you try to find hot hook ups somewhere where the other folks are looking for spouses, you will only get frustrated.
Lesson Learned: Know what each app is known for you so can up the likelihood of finding what you are looking for.
Then, once I found the app that had what I wanted, my first 2.5 days on that particular app yielded some interesting results. The whole thing was fascinating, hilarious, and wholly unexpected – seriously, farm animals are involved.
Lesson Learned: You might have to wade through a lot of folks you have no interest in dating before you find folks you think are cool. Don’t get discouraged and maintain your sense of humor about the whole thing. Trust me, you’ll need it.
Okay, once I made it through the hilarious part I was done finding the whole thing so funny. JK, it was still ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS and led to me going through several rounds of message purging. That was when I made, for your amusement, a ridiculous message Hall of Fame.
Lesson Learned: Once again, maintain that sense of humor. Beyond that though, if you are like me you may imagine that everyone else in the world is cool, pulled together, and 100% knows what they are doing at all times. Trust me when I tell you almost no one is cool, we’re all struggling to keep it together, and it’s possible that not a single one of us knows what we are doing at any moment. With that in mind, know you are doing great.
Moving on to the not-so-funny stuff. There will be people who are unkind, pushy, disrespectful and more. In the past I put up with way too much of that stuff. Then one day I FINALLY felt pushed hard enough to actually block someone (I probably should have done that sooner) and it led to some big feelings and important revelations.
Lesson Learned: Treat your dating app like your home. No one is owed a place inside of it and you 100% do not have to tolerate being disrespected in it. Block early and often. You don’t know owe anyone an interaction.
Okay, so if you are among the many heading back out into the dating world, know that I see you, I feel your nerves, fear, all of it, and I am rooting for you to get the outcome you want!
This post contains a sponsored link. The opinions in it are, as always, my own.
