Why is it so hard to date? Perhaps I’m a “hopeless romantic," emphasis on the hopeless, but I miss the days where people met in a grocery store while picking out the same cereal or when people actually talked to each other at an airport or a bus stop. Do situations like this even happen anymore? Meet-cutes such as these have trouble existing nowadays because of this…

Our phones! I believe that cell phones were invented to connect people; however, these people don’t seem like they are connecting. Rather they seem, disconnected. We can’t be alone for two seconds without whipping out our phones and appearing to be busy so that other’s don’t perceive us as awkward. Like when you go to Publix and you happen to see someone you don’t feel like speaking to, you pretend that something on Facebook is just too interesting for you to engage in conversation. We use them strategically to disconnect.

Because of society’s excessive need to be on our phones, I find it hard to meet people in public places. I’m starting to wonder how couples meet anymore. I’m almost done with my Bachelor’s degree, so soon I won’t have classmates to meet. I think about potentially meeting someone at work but then there’s that implicit dating rule that you shouldn’t date co-workers. How do people meet? Can you really meet your match in a bar at happy hour? How do adults navigate this dating world?

Well, I guess many are turning to online dating profiles or apps such as Bumble or Tinder.

I have not created a profile on either of these apps or any others that may be out there. I guess I don’t like the connotation that goes along with these dating apps--the expectations if you will. Many have nicknamed these apps “the hook-up apps.” Although I do have a select few friends who have met long-term boyfriends/girlfriends through these mediums, I guess the idea simply doesn’t appeal to me.

It’s the hopeless romantic in me that wants the fairy-tale love story. I want to tell people about how I met my man in line at Publix, or how our dogs' leashes became intertwined, or how I happened to sit next to him in church one day.

Sometimes I think I have too high of standards. I mean, why is it so difficult to find a nice Catholic boy who sports a beard and man bun, who enjoys hiking, plays guitar, and skateboards?? I call this guy, the ideal guy, a unicorn--because he seems to only exist in a fairy-tale. Granted, I am only 22; I think I have plenty of time. I just wonder how I will ever meet him when people seem so closed off to strangers these days because of the constant necessity to be on their phone.

I guess the key for me is to stop looking. Maybe I should just sit back and allow the unicorn to come to me? I think I must first learn to be satisfied and completely okay with just myself as company. I need to put my endless search for a man on hold. Maybe I’ve watched too many Disney princess movies, but I feel like I’m always waiting for my prince to come. I guess when you get to the point where you’re no longer waiting and you’re content without a companion, is when you might meet them.

For now, I plan to focus on bettering myself. I will also remember to not always be consumed by my cellular device. I don’t want to miss an opportunity to meet my unicorn!