Each of us has dealt with rejection at some point. If you’re been practicing online dating, you’ve probably been either rejected, or you have rejected someone, or both. And we can all agree that some people have a weird way of rejecting you. Many people have had situations where the communication goes perfectly fine for a while, and then the other person just stops talking altogether. No explanation, no nothing. Or, sometimes, they don’t just drop communication – they tell you, out of the blue, that they aren’t really interested. Sometimes they reject you after just one single message.
Rejection is never pleasant, but there are some helpful tips to keep in mind if you’ve been rejected online:
It’s only the internet
That person you thought was your online match probably doesn’t look nearly as good as their pictures anyway. You should never get too attached to someone you’ve never actually seen in person and if you’ve never heard them speak. It’s easy to get carried away, but let’s face it, he/she most probably isn’t that fabulous in real life.
Remember all those people you’ve rejected
Let’s be completely honest here. Someone, at some point, contacted you and you’ve ignored their message, or rejected them directly. Maybe you did it because you were having a bad day, maybe one of those people would have been great for you – but you’ll never know. And that’s just fine.
The internet is so huge, and there are so many people on it, it’s impossible to do everyone justice.
It happens to everyone
Don’t take it personal. Really, don’t. You’re not alone in experiencing a rejection strike and hating the whole online dating world. It really does happen to everyone. Join the club.
Analyze your steps
Could you have done something to earn this rejection? Go through the messages, check out what you wrote to that person. It’s very easy to be misunderstood and there are lots of ways to blow it, when it comes to online dating. Could you have been overly aggressive? Too pushy? Too needy? Did you bore the person? Did you not catch his/her early signs of disliking you and kept pushing?
Don’t obsess over this, but make sure you go through your own behavior because maybe you will find the answer there.
They may be already taken
The person that caught your eye might have been already taken. Chances are you’ve dodged a bullet. A colleague of mine thought she hit it off just great with a guy on a dating site, when suddenly he just disappeared. After a while, his Facebook profile came up under “people you may know”. When she checked out his profile she found out he’d been happily married for 6 years.
Remember to just keep on looking
Luckily, there’s one amazing thing about online dating: there’s plenty more fish in the see. Get over it and move on as soon as possible because you never know who you could meet tomorrow, or this very evening. The future love of your life might message you today, and you might splash them with your negativity and chase them away – because you’re all bugged about this rejection thing. Pick yourself up and keep moving.
Photo by I .. C .. U