To think dating is too difficult

[LonelyInAutumn]

I'm almost 24 and I just can't figure out how dating works. I've had one "relationship" but my ex was emotionally abuse, insecure etc. Recently I'd been talking to a guy for a while and we'd had a couple of dates but I was ghosted, the exact same thing happened around this time last year with a different guy and I'm feeling pretty defeated and a bit sad tbh. I know some people will say I'm still young and have my whole life ahead of me etc which I do agree with, however, I do feel like I'm at a point where I'd like to establish a meaningful connection with someone, I guess I just want to be appreciated. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm not looking to settle down and have kids right now but, it would just be nice to have someone to get coffe with, go for a walk and hold hands with (yes I know it's a bit corny, I gagged too lol). Not sure what I really want from this but to vent I guess. Thanks for reading :)

Hi everyone, just wanted to update this thread to say I've passed my driving test thanks for your encouragement :)

OLD is wonderful if you know your worth, are ruthless with who you match with and don’t entertain any low effort behaviour

my friends who complain how awful and difficult it is are guilty are all of the following:

• entertaining men with openers like ‘hi sexy xoxox’ and general shit chat
• don’t shut down overly sexual chat and ‘cheekiness’. Fine if you are looking for an FWB, but no one who is boyfriend material would do this
• chasing men- being the one to be dynamic and pin down and arrange dates, then being confused why it doesn’t go anywhere (the man wasn’t interested in seeing them and really wasn’t worth their time)
• wasting valuable time dating blokes who they aren’t attracted to because women have seen socialised to ‘give nice guys a chance’
• not seeing a man inviting you over for pizza and Netflix, or a walk where he then tries to get you back to his flat for a first date as an immediate red flag
• not multiple dating- feeling a sense of fidelity to one donut who doesn’t tick all their boxes when they could be meeting someone actually nice.