I met my boyfriend of one year online. I didn’t have one of those horror-story experiences of being catfished or ending up on a date with a huge creep, I instead found a handsome, hilarious and genuine guy online.
I chose online dating because it felt the most comfortable to me. There’s none of the on-the-spot pressure that you get when you try to find someone in real life, and it gives you a wider range of people to meet than those you would typically run into during your everyday life.
My boyfriend, Chris, said that he had trouble meeting single women on his college campus, so online dating seemed like the best option to him.
I was on every free dating site you can think of, but the one that I met my boyfriend on was OKCupid. I made my profile as interesting as I possibly could, which meant I included as many puns as possible. I also made sure that it explicitly said I was only interested in finding a long-term relationship to avoid as many people looking for hookups as I could.
I received hundreds of messages a month, and I wish I was exaggerating. The sheer number of people who use online dating was overwhelming, and I had to sort through numerous profiles and messages before finding anyone I would possibly be interested in dating. Once I’ve messaged someone for a week or so, and if we had similar interests, I would agree to go on a first date.
I had used online dating for a few years and I had a couple relationships during that time, but nothing ever stuck. I was never catfished because I always screened my potential dates by looking them up on social media and Google image searching their pictures. I just couldn’t find anyone that I felt a perfect connection with until I received a message from my current boyfriend.
I had recently just ended a relationship when I got the first message from my boyfriend. I posted on my profile that I thought penguins were adorable, and he messaged me asking what my favorite kind of penguin was. I actually did not respond to his message for a week, or anyone’s messages for that matter, but when I did respond he was quick to start up the conversation. We talked for awhile online and then I gave him my cell phone number. Chris always remarks that of all the people he messaged online, it was me who he most wanted a response from.
When you use online dating sites, it gives you the opportunity to filter for exactly the right person for you. You can filter your matches to only include people with the same religious beliefs, or people who don't smoke, or people who love Harry Potter. On OkCupid it also shows you a percentage on how well you would match up with the person you are talking to based upon the things you think are important, and my boyfriend and I had 98 percent match.
We had our first date and found that the 98 percentile match was spot-on. Our first date started out the way you would expect, at a coffee shop. We chatted for awhile but soon realized we were already passed the point of first date conversations from the talking we had already done online and over text. We grabbed our coffee and headed to a shopping center where we spent the remainder of the date joking and nervously holding each others sweaty hands (mostly just my hand was sweaty).
After our first date, we messaged each other nonstop. We quickly made plans for a second date of mini golf, where we shared our first kiss. We were both feeling ready to make things official by the third date, where we became a couple before our sushi date that night. Ever since then we have spent countless hours laughing together and supporting each other through life.
When you meet the right person, you can just tell that you’re going to be with them for the rest of your life. I am thankful everyday that I was able to use online dating to my advantage to find the right person to be with.
Editing Note: This article did not filter through the normal EmpowHER editing and fact checking process. It was checked for spelling and grammar.