My Experience With Dating In This Generation

As most people know, dating sucks. You have to find a person you like enough to be around often and they have to treat you well in the process. Unfortunately for many women around my age, the second part doesn't always matter.

Growing up I was always boy obsessed. I honestly look back on my past and wonder if it's possible to push my former self off of a skyscraper. Fortunately, I grew out of that after my first high school boyfriend. This is mainly because I realized that there is more to life than romance and that has always been my motto.

Fast forward to last year where I had been genuinely single for the first time in three years and I started to experience the single life and what dating has to offer. I personally had no bad experiences, or at least ones I can remember, but I did encounter a lot of really weird advice from friends and strange behavior from guys my age.

My main problem, especially with many popular "Dating coaches" now-a-days is that many people pretend in order to get what they want. This never made sense to me because if you eventually get what you want you've essentially trapped yourself into an acting role for the rest of your life.

I also like to applaud myself for intentionally avoiding misogynistic or outdated advice because I learned really quickly that being the "cool" girl gets you nowhere in life. And that is where my main concern is with women my age, being the cool girl.

Most people who know me pretty well know I am a no nonsense and passionate woman. I respect my intelligence and ideas and expect the same from those around me. During my time being single I realized that a lot of women don't impose boundaries or demand respect from the men they are dating.

This didn't make sense to me at first because in previous relationships I was used to stating my likes and dislikes and if it didn't work out I would just leave. I don't believe in potential. It's either it's there or it's not. And another thing my friends found bizarre about me is how quickly I leave a dating situation if it's not aiding me in anyway.

I would hear my girlfriends complain about guys who left them on read constantly, never initiated date plans, or were flat out rude and in my mind I would just keep repeating "leave him. Leave him. Leave him." Why do women settle for these mediocre situations?

Even when I've really liked a guy, if he even started to breadcrumb me ( a term for doing the bare minimum to keep you around) I would automatically lose interest and look for an escape route. This is because I absolutely detest being miserable. If you are not adding joy to my life I don't need you in my life.

I've been called a savage multiple times because I straight up stop talking to men with no explanation if I feel mistreated. Why waste your breath on someone who's shown you countless time how little they care about you?

Luckily through this experience I found that sticking to your standards will make you happier in the long run. The times I chose not to listen to myself I ended up more miserable than I would be if I just stayed completely single. At the end of the day, if you focus on yourself and your own happiness, someone will come along eventually and if they don't that's perfectly fine too.