Note- I think this forum is more relevant perhaps than the other one I posted on, so will try here.
I'm really concerned about my 25 year old DD, who frequently complains about loneliness, mostly referencing the fact that she's never dated in any capacity, but also in general.
As a child, she always struggled making friends, but getting older, she's gotten better in this area, making a small group of friends at uni. As a teenager, she's told me that she asked people out, and she got rejected in a fairly mean way, but teenagers can be like that sometimes. As an undergrad, she didn't have any contact with boys, and only occasionally hung out with friends. She frequently expressed sadness at her friends seemingly being able to date easily, but people ignored her. As a postgrad, during covid, she spent most of her time in her room, and expressed frustration at people not really taking to her when lockdown lifted and she could attend social/club events. After graduating, she's been living at home with us whilst she saves up to rent in London. She confided in me that she tried online dating, but could only get matches if she set her age limit very high, as in, older even than me which I'm not so keen on! But as her life currently consists of working from home, cooking dinner and going to the gym, I'm not sure what the other options would be, I suppose. She's often very upset at seeing her friends on social media become young adults and get on with their lives, going out and dating, but also living independently in general. I've told her to be patient whilst she saves, but her worry is that if her life has been a certain way til now, she's not sure it'll change once moving out.
It shouldn't matter, but she's not unattractive. Danced all her life, done bits of modelling here and there in Europe, and is an auditioning actress amongst other things. So I don't think it could be that. She does look very young for her age, and is frequently mistaken for mid-late teens, I wonder sometimes if this has something to do with it. I do think it affects how people treat her.
Should I push for counselling? Try to set her up? Or just leave it a couple of years, to see if things smooth out? It can just be quite upsetting, as she cries frequently about this issue, and I hate to see her unhappy.