Online Dating

Over a year ago, after complaining about the lack of dating prospects in my area to my bishop, he recommended I try online dating. I looked at him, shook my head and said, "No way. I'm not to that point yet", as if online dating was the last resort; an act of despertaion and despair. When I moved back to Salt Lake I found myself in a social predicament. It felt like I was in a new city, but this time there were people I knew. I had old friends from high school and family connections that could have been my social network. However, that is not what I wanted. In fact, it's these "friends" that I've been avoiding via distance for all those years. I wanted a clean slate; to forget the past and meet new people. The only problem was, I didn't know how or where. The most logical place to start was church. It's now been nearly 4 months since I've been in my ward and not a single friendship has blossomed. Why? I can't put all the blame on others. I have not been very proactive in meeting people. However, most of the people in my ward are below the age of 22 and are Olympus affiliates, to whom I have an automatic prejudice. The next idea I had was to volunteer somewhere. That'd be a good place to meet people, right? I tried looking for the right opportunity, but that idea never panned out well so that was out. I even considered attending an institute class at the U. When the day came, I discovered that I just couldn't do it. I wasn't afraid of going alone or meeting people. It's that I'm too old for institute! The institute vibe is very much associated with the college scene; young and naive people. After a lot of brainstorming and lonely nights, I decided to give online dating a try. For the first couple of weeks, it was more for laughs than actual searching. I got some pretty hilarious messages from guys who were either doing it for sport or they were serious and creepy. Either way, it gave me a good laugh. After a month now of dating online, I've discovered I actually like it! It's a great way to see who's out there, other than people who are in your ward or people you went to high school with. Going out on actual dates has been a slow process, but it's coming along. I have two this week! I never thought I would ever sign up for an online dating site, but I'm now eating my words...and I like the taste of them.