I was not looking for anything romantic my first year of college. The majority of the friends I had made were single which meant we spent about 90% of our time together; people hardly ever saw us talking to anyone outside of our small group. Dinner conversations were light-hearted and maybe a little inappropriate at times, but we were inseparable. With that being said, we did get a little curious sometimes and often our curiosity got the best of us.
It started as a harmless joke one evening at dinner; we were all sitting in South Dining Hall, our plates filled with scraps of food and all of us tucked into our little corner away from the rest of the world. One of us had the idea to create a Tinder account, and the rest of us followed in suit into the craziness that would soon take hold of us. Being the shy introvert that I am, I let my friends take the lead on my new online profile. I sat back and watched as they swiped left and right on the endless amounts of guys looking for what I thought would just be hook-ups.
At this point, I was thinking about how unlike me the entire situation is and instantly regretted my decision. I am not the type of girl to reach out to random strangers through the internet or even in person. I have been warned countless times of the dangers of giving out personal information on the internet, and seeing it plastered on the internet gave me anxiety. Yet, I could not bring myself to delete the account. While swiping left on the majority of the guys that my friends saw, there was one in particular that caught my eye. I still can’t to this day explain why. I messaged him, and he responded. By this point, I tried very hard to not freak out in front of my entire communications class, but I could not contain my excitement. What started out as a simple joke turned into one of the best things to ever happen to me.
A terrible stigma often goes hand-in-hand with online dating, and while it can be some of the most dangerous situations you may encounter in life, some can also be thrilling, life-changing, and very successful. We talked for a few months until we felt like we were ready to meet in person. To me, he did not seem like a creep just looking for another hook-up; he seemed genuine and trustworthy. This did not mean I was not careful though. The night we decided to meet up, we met at the Starbucks on campus and my army of girls kept watch for me as I went on this adventure. Turned out I was right; he was not just some guy looking for a hookup, and he became my best friend, my boyfriend, the one to hold me and tell me he loved me even though I was having a mental breakdown, and—most importantly—the one who reminds me every day how beautiful I am. I am happy I went out of my comfort zone and conquered the unknown.