Isolation has always been a form of punishment. It is the social answer to the ones not playing by its rules. Isolation has many ways, but all of them are a form of retribution. Either we talk about criminality that puts one in jail or at home arrest, or about social groups that expel those not fit for them, or even if we talk about strong personal relationships where one of the two refuses to speak or answer the phone – they all mean isolation and punishment. Now, that’s due to the coronavirus pandemic, but with online dating, we can stop feeling lonely, if that’s the case.
But there is a beautiful side of the isolation. The one that resembles traveling into finding who you are and what you need. Those are things that too often get contaminated with what the partner, the group of friends, and the society need and expect from us. And, as social beings, we are programmed by nature and education to comply with those needs and expectations that aren’t ours. Because we need to belong.
How can we turn the coronavirus isolation into self-rewarding travel?
First, by isolating the pressure of doing what we would do if we were free from isolation. We naturally feel the temptation to keep things as they were. But that is lying to ourselves. And we all know we can’t build something that would last on a lie.
We live horrific times, and what we need now is having around us people that can help us cope with the reality we are living. People that can make us smile not because they do so good at pretending they are someone else, but because they are genuine and trying their best to cope with the same problems as we do.
Until now, dating apps seemed to be a way of running from reality, the space where one could pretend to be whoever they want and meet someone just like them. But under the COVID-19 pandemic circumstances, things can dramatically change. Not just in the wrong way. Now, dating online seems the only sane thing to do if you are feeling lonely.
Many of us feel lonely, so it is not a reason to try and pretend you don’t. All of us were once in this situation but not all of us lived it in a time of a pandemic. So, it’s alright to admit that you are lonely. Just don’t forget, you are also living in a life-threatening situation. So, while going on a virtual date is the sane thing to do, taking it to the next level of meeting in person is insane.
Online dating in the time of the coronavirus outbreak need patience
You have the chance to experience a love worth telling stories about. It is the way people lived their love stories less than fifty years ago. Our grandmothers for sure. Possibly our mothers. Waiting is not a punishment. Not if we talk about love. Waiting is rewarding.
And we live in a world that has forgotten what reward really means. We live on fast-food sex and the same kind of love. How long has it been since you’ve given time to a relationship before jumping to the end of it? Happily-ever after started when the two got married, but they always had to fight to get there.
Back then, they wrote letters. Lots of them. Later they talked on the phone. You have the touchscreen and the desktop. So, write. Talk. Ask all the questions you were afraid to ask before, make it your purpose to find out who is the one on the other side of the screen. Talk about yourself and tell the truth.
You can see him/her if you want to since we’re talking about online dating. Put on some makeup or your lucky shirt and go on a date. But keep it virtual. Make it your limit during the coronavirus pandemic. If it’s worthwhile, it will last. And when the world is free of COVID-19, you can meet. Give yourself the chance to feel those shivers only a long time waiting can give to a touch of his or her hand.
