Dipping A Toe Back into the Dating Pool After Two Years
Why don’t people show up online like they do in real life?
“How do you like it?”
I gaze into the mirror and see a new me emerging from a long, self-imposed hibernation.
“It’s perfect.”
I have just had my hair cut and highlighted for the first time in nearly 2 years. My niece, who is in beauty school, has chopped off six or seven inches of hair, cut in some layers and lightened what’s left. I have a shoulder grazing cut that leaves me feeling and looking lighter.
Lighter in every way. The physical weight of my long locks is gone, but so is the emotional weight I have been holding onto ever since an important relationship ended nearly two years ago. I have been through a lot in those two years. I lost my dad to cancer. I went through a reorganization at work. I auditioned for and appeared on a Netflix reality show. And I purposely took myself out of the dating pool to concentrate on my kids, myself, and my work.
After a heart to heart discussion with my former boyfriend last December, I was finally ready to let go of the last bits of hope for that connection. I was ready to heal. This hair cut was symbolic of letting go of the last of what was holding me back emotionally and mentally. I was ready to try meeting new people…