By: Natasha Archary
Navigating the dating scene as a thirty-something-year-old is a dog eat dog world. It’s not as casual as it was in your twenties, not to mention the added pressure from family to have you settle down and pop out grandchildren. It can be overwhelming.
What’s different?
Aside from the fact that it’s done predominantly online now (link multiple articles on online dating) you now know what you want and expect from a partner.
Read: Whatever happened to traditional dating?
When you’re in your thirties, you know that time is valuable. Chasing paper means there’s little time to waste on meaningless relationships. Life is also not as clear cut as it may have been in your twenties.
Quirks, preferences and aiming for a lifetime of solitude
Men and women have confessed that dating in their thirties can be terrifying. We’re conditioned into fearing that inevitable biological clock that keeps ticking. It’s this issue of timing that has most settling into mediocre relationships that leave them unfulfilled.
Then there are those of us who want to meet the elusive, “The ONE”, without needing to put ourselves out there. Expecting the perfect partner to walk straight into our lives, solely via divine intervention.
In a world where everything is faster, if it takes too much time and effort, we’re not having it. People check out of relationships with lightning speed for the most trivial reasons today. Accustomed to their own space and set of ideals, if you’re not ticking ALL the boxes, you’re just in the way.
For all the right, wrong and random reasons
Dare we forget that with the adage of online dating apps, no one is off limits. Married or taken individuals are still playing the field, making it difficult to gauge real connections from playbook quests.
A general rule of thumb is that older men do not seem to have a problem sending cupid’s arrow to younger conquests. A rule that’s changing amongst the genders with many women today determined to snag a younger man. Traditional requirements like age, gender, race, physicality etc. are no longer deal-breakers as we look for a human to human connection instead of the “perfect partner.”
The most daunting part about dating in your thirties is that many want to know right off the bat if it’s going anywhere.
Your thirties are the transition period. One day you may be dead set on meeting your soulmate, the next you want a passionate friends-with-benefits arrangement. Whatever your thinking, knowing when to let go of unhealthy relationships is necessary.
