I haven’t been on a dating app all summer.
ALL SUMMER.
And it has been glorious.
I’m 48, and I genuinely don’t know if I’m ever going back.
I know that sounds like a dramatic announcement, especially considering I haven’t made any grand declaration about dating. I’m just looking at the fact that an entire summer went by without me opening a dating app, and my reaction is: Oh. I like this.
Quite a lot, actually.
There is something funny about realizing you can simply stop doing a thing. No farewell speech. No five-point plan. No dramatic social media announcement explaining your new era. You can just… not.
And then one day you notice how long it’s been.
For me, that day came after an entire summer.
I’ve spent so much of my adult life with things to do and people who need something from me. My daughter is grown. I have a business to run. I turned 48 this week. I’m already thinking about what I want the next part of my life to look like.
Do I want dating apps in that picture? I have no idea.
That’s what surprised me. I expected the question to be whether I’d go back, and instead I’m sitting here wondering why I would.
I’m not making a big speech about men. I’m not announcing that I’m never dating again. I haven’t decided any of that.
I just know I didn’t use the apps this summer, and I loved not using them.
And for now, that’s enough of an answer.
Although, if you had told me a year ago I’d be writing a whole article about not doing something, I’d have laughed.
Yet here we are.
