By Victoria DiMartino, Staff Writer
I’m not going to lie, I don’t know where to find anyone these days. I mean I have a general idea of where people are going to hang out with friends and to go have fun, but where do you go when you want to meet somebody? I, myself, am in a long-term relationship so I have not stepped out into the world of dating in a long time; especially not college dating. I do know something, I promise I have not just been blindly leading you down a path that has no destination, but let me ask you a question: Where do you go to find yourself a date? And I mean you right now, the person reading this.
Are you someone who likes to go to the bar and seek out someone there because you know the type of people who go to Bots? Or are you someone who prefers to meet by chance? You see a cute girl at Target and you give it a shot and ask her for her number? That’s the way I liked to play it when I was going out and trying to find someone. I think though, I may just like romantic comedies too much and I was always stuck in that fantasy.
But, for those of you who like to go somewhere specific to meet someone, can you still find people in the same places that you used to go or do you have less options now that people just generally go out less? Again, it all depends on the person. If you are someone who is comfortable going out just as much as you did before the pandemic then maybe dating isn’t a problem for you. In general, though, it seems that because of state restrictions on how many people can be in one place at one time, we have less people to choose from. Is Mr. Right at the library or is he at home because the library hit capacity a half hour ago?
It is the same way for the bar and for restaurants. People may just be choosing to go out less and maybe you are someone who is in the middle about the rules and comfort and you are just floating by. Do you feel limited in who you can meet because the world now seems to come at a threshold?
If you’re someone who is a believer in fate and knows that whatever happens is for a reason, then maybe all this is just mumbo jumbo to you and a waste of time, but what have you considered about your chances at love? Even if you are a proponent of fate and destiny, were you ever expecting destiny to throw a pandemic your way? Probably not. So, has this now skewed your perception on what’s meant to be?
Now maybe you’re a go getter, you’re the number-giving-to-a-cute-girl-in-Target kind of guy, so right now you know you can find a date no problem. But for the rest of us trying to weigh all our options, what options do we have left? It all circles back to the question of what you want in this time of COVID-19. Because if you want to find someone you will and you’ll put in the work for that. But to all my single people who are in a weird limbo right now, what are you doing?
Is the bar your go-to spot or are you sliding into someone’s DMs on Instagram? Are you staying local in your search or are you going to find someone halfway across the country because being virtual is what you would have done anyway?
Wherever you’re finding your fellow single people, make sure to decide if you’re ready to start something new or if being single for a little while longer is okay with you.