Do dating, love, and sex have to wait because we’re in a pandemic?
Join me as we try to navigate what finding love may look like during a pandemic.
Dating at the best of times is a grandiose mixture of weird and wonderful. The landscape of dating, love, and sex has been dramatically altered by the coronavirus pandemic and the needs to maintain physical distance from others.
Even at the best of times. Dating can be challenging, from picking first date locations and hoping to put your best foot forwards. Now, in-person first dates have turned into FaceTime sessions and long socially distanced walks. As opposed to the traditional first date settings of restaurants and bars. And what about those of us who started dating just before the pandemic? Does this mean that we now have to move in prematurely with our new found partners? Or will we all be subjected to try to stoke the spark from a distance, because we can’t be within two meters of each other?
The Challenge
Meeting new people is always a challenge, let alone during a pandemic. Even singles who have previously shunned dating apps are now unable to rely on striking up conversations and meeting new people in bars, or out in public.
But, there may be a positive side. With the single world flocking to online dating websites, and a lack of physical in-person things to do. There is more time to get to know someone and less pressure on meeting up for the first time.
But, let’s say you do take the leap of faith (safely and with a facemask on, of course), and meet someone?. How do you know you’re going to be safe?
Don’t be afraid to talk about coronavirus.
Though it’s been done before, and as all know the ramifications of getting Covid-19. It’s important to speak openly about what you are and are not comfortable with.
Communication is key.
The Upside
Though, hope may seem lost while dating (or trying to date) during a pandemic, there are some plus sides.
While erring on the side of caution (more so now than ever before), and having limited things to do. It gives you a chance to really get to know the person and their intentions. Unlike before where pleasantries and light jokes could take you through the first handful of dates. Now people have the chance to really get to know the person they are with. Whether it’s on a strange dinner date experience with more texts in your arsenal than normal. Or going for walks without the added distractions of others. Couples are now getting closer than ever during the “dating” stage of their relationships.
The Lesson
Before the world was struck by a full-blown pandemic, we were all spoiled for choice on dating. Whether it was on apps, meeting people at bars, or meeting through a friend of a friend at a party. The lockdown has taught the serial daters, the swipers, and the “can I please buy you a drink”-ers looking for love – that patience is key.
Even if we are all adults. Patience is normally the most annoying virtue we’ve learned and is also the hardest to accept that we haven’t learned.
Through this newfound patience, we can also appreciate that dating is a form of escapism and not a chore. The world has been turned on its head, for better or for worse. Dating during this strange time can help make what could objectively be seen as the worst year in the 2000s, less so.
So whether or not you choose to date during the Covid-19 crisis. Just know you are not alone in your search for love during this whirlwind of a year.
(A shout out to my best friend and dating guru Rachel for helping me navigate the world of dating during a pandemic)