Sometimes I feel like Carrie Bradshaw when I write about dating. (Did I just date myself? I loved that show.) Just as Carrie would have shopped for clothes on "Sex and the City," I want to talk about how online dating is a bit like clothes shopping. I know the analogy is a little cringey, but bear with me for a minute.
When most of us go shopping, we fall in love with an article of clothing, and then we look for our size. Sadly, it’s not there — what a disappointment. But that’s not how I shop. I’m 5-foot-1, so I have to do the reverse. I blindly shop for my size and then decide if I like what I find. And sometimes I’ll even learn to love something in my size because it fits so well, even though it’s not initially what I set out to buy. (I have a green dress in mind.)
Online dating is surprisingly similar. People have a tendency to look through the whole universe of people online for that perfect-looking garment, or person, who on the outside looks like a match made in heaven. But as you dig deeper, you learn the fit just isn’t right for one reason or another. He wants children and you don’t; she is not yet divorced; he doesn’t feel the same way you do about higher education, etc. But you want to make it work so badly. I can’t tell you the number of times I loved a pair of pants at Banana Republic, and I tried on a “regular” (rather than “petite,” aka “short”), somehow hoping the sizing would miraculously be a bit off and they would fit that day. Pants we can hem, but people we can’t.
