Dating: What I Don’t Like About You
by So you’re single again and eligible to play the dating game? Good luck! These are the reasons why I’d rather sit on the sidelines and just watch.
A friend of mine recently asked me what I thought of dating, and the first words that came to mind were “a necessary evil.” Sure, it can be fun; it can be interesting; but, for the most part, it is painfully awkward. Of course, “dating” is a very broad term whose meaning differs from culture to culture. Loosely, it is the social stage when two people are getting to know each other. For this article’s purposes, when I refer to dating, I refer to the limbo during which two individuals who do not yet know each other are in the process of getting to know each other. Two friends who go out together a lot could be “dating,” but if there are no romantic intentions involved, these two are simply “hanging out.”
I don’t mind “hanging out.” When two people hang out, you don’t have to worry about who’ll pay for whom; the bill is usually split in half. You don’t expect a lot of things: the door being opened, the chair being pulled, the crossing the street at the dangerous side. However, if I’m on a date, I have all these and more in my mental checklist.
When you’re “dating,” you’re already assessing if the other person is worth the hassle or the heartache. Your compatibility meter is out, charged and ready. You just about fall short of collecting pheromones, analyzing their sequences and declaring whether you’re a perfect match or not.
My beef with dating is you’re already preprogrammed to assess, analyze and overanalyze everything that’s going on, instead of just enjoying the company you’re with. If you don’t hit it off, do you become friends? Probably not. I mean, what for? You just classify each other into the “someone I’ve dated” category and move on. If you *do* hit it off, lucky you! Hopefully the dating blossoms into a relationship and you won’t have to deal with if-the-shoe-fits issues ever. Or for a couple of months, depending on how lucky you are.
Regardless of what I think of dating, I know I’ll be eating my words soon enough. I said I didn’t like it, but it doesn’t mean I won’t be doing it. For now, I’ll just be by the benches catching my breath, but when I do, game on!
Image by RBerteig via Flickr
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