Dating Anxiety Essay, Research Paper

Dating Anxiety

Have you ever been really stressed about something? Think of the time when you have been the most stressed out. Multiply that to the 10th power and you have me before a date. It seems to me dating and stress are like salt and pepper; you almost never have one without the other. Endless anticipations flood your mind, making it almost impossible to keep a continuous train of thought. The worst thing about dating is that you get seriously stressed out for one lousy night. It’s enough to turn a sane mind into a basket case. So much energy is put into preparing for a night that ends up being pretty lame. One thing is for sure; dating is not worth the stress it brings. Here are some examples of typical stresses you are faced with when you go out on a date.

First of firsts, what to wear. You keep asking yourself, “Does this make me look fat? Is this color all wrong? Where is the skirt I was going to wear?” Nothing is clean. Nothing looks right. You have ten minutes until you need to be ready to go and you’re running around in your underwear like a chicken with its head cut off. Aaaah! Finally you give up and put on your favorite pair of bedraggled jeans and a solid color T-shirt. Now that you’re dressed you start to calm down, only to turn your thoughts to the next major stress of the evening, the stress on your wallet.

You’re more broke than humpty dumpty. The date was a mutual proposal, so it would be obnoxiously rude to leave the entire tab for the night up to your date. Frantic, you start searching your room for lost cash and loose change. After searching through all your pockets you realize you have no other choice but to borrow money from your roommate who is still holding a grudge about the five bucks you borrowed last week and have yet to pay back. Tension is filling the house so you decide to wait outside.

While waiting for your date you get ambushed by mosquitoes. Now your arms are covered in itchy red bumps that will be nagging at you the entire evening. By the time your date finally arrives, your hair has turned into a frizzy rat’s nest from waiting in the humidity, not to mention you are in the worst mood possible. You get in the car trying to fake a genuine smile and just when you start to chill out and relax the next issue is faced: where to go.

Of course your date leaves this crucial decision entirely up to you. After thinking through all of the spots you like to go to, you pick one that seems to suit you both. Unfortunately, you picked the place where your date’s ex-girlfriend likes to go. So you spend the whole evening trying to spark a good conversation as your date jealously eyeballs all the guys his ex is flirting with. After you realize the night is not going to get any better, you get the tab and ask your date for a ride home. Just when you think it’s over and you’re in the clear, you arrive at the most awkward situation of the evening: saying goodnight.

Tradition says that there must be a kiss before the night is officially over, but there is absolutely no physical attraction between you and Mr. “I can’t get over my ex.” But rules are rules, so through gritted teeth you survive the goodnight kiss. Mentally exhausted, you hurl yourself onto your bed and attempt to clear your mind of such an unpleasant evening. Despite the tension in your neck that you can’t get rid of, you shut your eyes and drift into the worst sleep you have ever had.

Although dating is not always such a bad experience, you can’t honestly say that it can be completely stress free. I believe that when two people of the opposite sex meet on an individual basis there is something in our bodies that make our hearts pump faster and our muscles get tense. This ultimately leads to some form of stress. Although dating is one of life’s necessities it seems more trouble than it is worth.