When I was little, I was obsessed with Disney Princess movies. Having a handsome, brave man slay dragons just to be with you sounded like a pretty good deal. As I got older and started watching romantic comedies, I couldn't wait until I was old enough to go out on dates. To have a guy come to my front door and wait for me inside while I made my grand entrance down the stairs. To open my car door for me and tell me how beautiful I looked. It made adulthood seem like a dream. What I didn't know then was that by the time I was old enough to date, everyone stopped.
Dating isn't something that happens commonly at college, at least not where I go. People don't want to go on dates. They want to hook up, with no strings attached and call it a day. We live in a generation of people who just want to "Netflix and chill" and don't actually get to know one another. We text and Snapchat but when we see each other in person it's awkward and nobody wants to make the first move. Generally, when older people say that people our age don't know how to communicate I think they're wrong. But in the dating world, nobody knows what they're doing. I certainly don't.
Don't think it's just men either, it's women too. We're all so afraid of commitment we don't want to be tied to one person. The problem with this is that we also don't want to be alone. When we find someone to hang out and spend time with, we don't want to fully commit but don't want them to be with other people either. The biggest fear of this generation is commitment.
The one piece of advice I can give you from my experiences is don't settle. If you want more than just a friends-with-benefits arrangement, be honest about it. This way you won't be wasting your time or anyone else's. Get that conversation out of the way before someone falls too hard and ends up getting hurt more than if they had realized the differences in the beginning.
Lastly, if you like talking to someone and they tell you they want to be with you: go for it. We need to stop letting the fear of getting hurt dictate our lives. If spending time with them is the highlight of your day, and they're the first person you want to go with when you have good or bad news, take the risk. I know that it's scary, but it could be the best thing you ever do.
