To date or not to date? Big question, and it only arises for me on occasion. But when it does, the back-and-forth goes something like this:

“Isn’t my life great like it is? Even the best relationships have complications…why would I want to do that to my otherwise nice life?”

“Well, because wouldn’t it be fun to have someone to share all of it with? The good, the bad, the simple. Someone to download with at the end of the day or just to watch a movie together at home. Or go out to a restaurant, or travel for a few days….whatever!”

“But how can you really go through the lengthy process of REALLY getting to know someone from scratch at this age?”

“People do it all the time. And they have fun.”

“But do I want to risk getting stuck again in something? That’s a horrible feeling!”

“You are strong and creative. You will walk away from it, worst case, or best case you will have a meaningful and lovely relationship.”

On and on it goes. Occasionally I go back to dabbling in online dating because my best efforts at meeting someone organically just haven’t resulted in anything. Then I remember how bad it feels to be judged and go back off of online dating. Who knows where this will end up, but for the moment I’m going with “alone is best”.