Swipe Right to Date

 

LEON NEAL/GETTY IMAGES

 

The beauty of technology is that everything is at your fingertips, from food to games to maps and even love ❤️ or so they say. Well, one of the things I wanted to be intentional about in the year 2020 was my dating life (Let's not pretend, I did not have one) but then just when I thought to be more serious, COVID happened. At least no one can say I did not try 😼or did I? Well after so many targeted ads on TV throughout summer about all the different dating apps out there, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and give it the old college try. 

Step 1: I downloaded two different dating apps 

Step 2: I forgot all about the app until one late weekend after a romantic movie

Step 3: Worked on my profile and indicated all the things that were important to me [Faith ✙, honesty, communication, all the good stuff]

Step 4: Wait for love to fall into my lap 💏

As I started this journey into the old yet new technology, I realized that love will not just fall into my lap, I had to be an active participant in the process. In my case that included swiping right or left. 

The online dating platform gave me a lot of choices, one that I appreciated but sometimes felt overwhelming. After so many left swipes I realized that online dating might not be my cup of tea [Either that or I was not doing it right]. 

Online dating helped me understand the things that I cherished more at this stage in my journey [Communication and Consistency] and the things I needed to work on [ Communication] to ensure my partner does not feel shortchanged. I take a jab at my social communication skills because most of my established connections like 'Greg who loves his dog' fell off due to my inability to keep up with communication especially via calls 

All in all, this was a wonderful trial but not one I think is lucrative for me, does this mean you should not give it a try? NO!!

Different strokes for different folks, I have heard of a sizable amount of people who found love on dating apps but we must also realize that a dating app is not a magic wand [Which seems to be what I treated it as]. 

Instead, it is a platform for you to rapidly meet a lot of people and the onus falls on you to put in the work which includes shooting your shot, starting and maintaining communication, and DO NOT string someone along if you know that is not a connection you desire to nurture. 

Instead of going into detail about my experience with online dating, I will instead list my take-aways so far:

• No one is perfect and although we all have our wants they do not necessarily translate to our needs. 
• Yes, actions speak louder than words but when meeting someone for the first time, your words hold more weight. 
• Do not be scared to let your intentions known, this single act ensures that no one wastes their time or gets hurt. If all you want is a "Netflix and Chill mate", do not pretend that you want more just because he/she says they do 
• Do not ghost, be an adult and communicate about why they are not a good fit 
• Even if they just look like images on a screen, they are human so treat them no less than