All true and equally applied across genders. I believe all of these behaviors are symptomatic of the risk to our self esteem that we fear, and that fear is not unfounded. People judge each other all the time, and in the dating realm it gets to the bare bones of our self worth. Will this person think I am worthy enough to invest her time with me? Yuk!

So we play it safe for as long as possible. I suppose I will venture forth into the dating realm again after the pandemic subsides , but I don’t look forward to it. Nonetheless, I am open to the possibility of meeting someone with whom I enjoy spending time, just being ourselves together. Doesn’t that sound nice?