Being an introvert makes dating a bit harder than it is for extroverts who meet and get to know new people with ease. That doesn't mean it's impossible, though.
Internet seems to confuse "introvert" with "completely incapable of leaving the house or speaking to another human being" - but that's not the case.
Introverts are more than capable of happy and healthy relationships, conversations, and meeting loads of new folks. One Reddit user, who is struggling because he is too shy to talk to people, asked:
Introverts, how did you meet your girlfriend?
The question was centered around girlfriends because that is the end goal for the person posting, but the responses came from all kinds of people with all kinds of partners.
Long story short, a lot of introverts needed the other person to make the first move. Also, as one person explained it, getting to the girlfriend is actually the last step in a long road of self-confidence building.
There is no guaranteed method, but one guaranteed NOT to work is staying home talking to no one and doing nothing. So get out there (at least in an e-way cause, ya know, pandemic) and have some fun.
Still Oblivious
We worked together. I wasn't really interested at first. She seemed a bit stand offish, but one day she stayed after work and hung out talking to me. I invited her to a 4th of July cookout at a friend's house the next day, as my crush couldn't make it. She said yes and was very touchy-feely with me. I was oblivious still.
One of my friends at the cookout suggested a few of us go see a movie the next day and she said yes. When we went, she sat next to me and kinda snuggled up close. Still oblivious.
After the movie, she hung out with me at my apartment, sat on my lap with her honey my chest, and watched Red vs Blue with me. She was cold and asked me to hold her. She put my hand on her ass! And I was still oblivious.
It wasn't until she left at 2am that I realized "what if she's into me?" I told a close girl friend of mine, and she almost hit me for not asking her out. So I called her up and she said yes. We've been together 7 years now. I was both an introvert and an idiot.
When guys say we don't catch signals, we really don't.
- Son_of_Sothoth
Make The Move
flirty flirting GIFGiphyMet someone that realized I was too shy to make a move and aggressively flirted with me and hinted all the time.
Need me a freak like that.
I nearly choked on my drink after reading this, thanks
All of my girlfriends have been the aggressor in starting the relationships. And not with subtle hints either, basically they have to knock on my skull and say hey we're gonna date now.
- ccx941
My girlfriend is an extrovert she introduced herself and I made an uncomfortable joke about how since she doesn't know me I'm "mr anonymous" We've been together for five years now.
I threw pistachios at my (now) husband because he was sitting at the bar playing hard to get.
- Amadai
Tired Of Waiting
Through a mutual friend. We've known each other since 2011 and I had a crush on her since day one. We used to cuddle a lot after parties throughout the years but I was too scared to ask her out.
In 2018 I asked said mutual friend if he thought she'd like to go out with me. He just straight up asked her. She said that she would like that but I was still to scared to do anything. She got tired of waiting for me to ask her out and asked me out instead. Turns out she had a crush on me all that time too.
We're engaged now.
Just Say 1 Line
Overcame my fear of rejection. Manned the f*ck up and started failing at chatting up girls. Not even chatting up, just talking to random girls. After a while I lost my fear, gained confidence and got a girl.
Getting the "right" girl is actually the last step in building your own confidence. There's so much to do before you get to that point. I would suggest that starting right now, try to make a conversation with every person you interact with.
Just something small and easy. Just say 1 line to the next person you see and build from there.
Nice try, extrovert.
Literary Porn
reading quotes GIF by Quote CatalogGiphyNo lie my boyfriend is an awkward introvert and we met on a porn site that has a chat feature. It's called Literotica. It's not visual porn, it's pornographic literature.
We now live together (for 2.5yrs) him having moved from Florida to Michigan.
- Ali6952
Omegle
I'm sure this is a rare one, but Omegle. 6 years ago. I used to use the website a lot, chatting with girls. I met my girlfriend on the site and starting messaging each other a lot, then skyping, it turns out she was planning on going to the same college as I was (lived in the same state). Now we have been living together for 2 years.
True Self
My close friends and I met up for drinks before a house party, and one of my friends brought their course mate. Usually I have troubling being confident and outgoing around new people, but because I was comfortable with almost everyone there I acted a lot more chill, cracking jokes, doing stupid sh*t, basically my true self.
She told my friend that she thinks I'm good looking and it took me a good 2 hours to come up with the courage to talk to her. Anyway we've been together for almost a year now lol.
- xtaradox
Awkward Jr High Hugs
Aye a thread for me! Okay so me and my girlfriend went to the same junior high. I was 12 and she was 13. Me and her only shared one class together. I also had my best buds in this class, we all sat in the very back and would just BS around and make gorilla noises at each other (I don't know why, we were 12 and it was funny I guess) and she would always turn around and shoot everyone looks.
I developed a crush on her, and since we were both introverts we never really talked and I never conveyed my feelings to her. But when the last couple weeks of school rolled around, I found some courage in myself to start waving at her, and smiling, which would lead to small conversations, which lead to me tapping her on the head when I would come into class, and it wasn't until the very last day of school where she told me that she liked me.
That then lead to a very awkward hug before leaving school, and then another few weeks of awkward Facebook messaging.
Years later (I'm 20 now and she's 21) we now live together and have a beautiful 2 year old daughter, are planning on buying our own home within the next year or so, and to hopefully get out of our home town together. We had our daughter really young so I dropped out, got my GED, and have been working since to support us, so we have been able to afford and save.
I love our story and I thought this was the perfect thread to share it in, hopefully it doesn't get buried, thanks for reading :)
Nearby Octagons
Dating app called Whiplr. Joined it, it's laid out like a set of octagonal tiles with the ones nearest the top being nearest to you and as you go down they get further away. Sent a message to this girl that wasn't too far away from me and asked if she'd be up for chatting and once she said ok we had a brief chat.
At the end I asked if she'd be ok with me messaging again and that was ok so we built up our conversations in terms of length and depth and went on a first date about a month later. We've been together almost 4 years now.
Therapy Made It Happen
I hope a story of how I met my now husband is ok for this post.
I was going to therapy and was encouraged to go out to events and parties. I met him at a university holiday event and we both volunteered to visit and give doughnuts to kids in the hospital. I pulled myself together and went to every party or hangout I was invited to, whether I wanted to or not. It was part of my therapy.
We got to know each other, got drunk with friends one night and we started to making out. Then we went on a few dates a slowly became serious. Our first dates were pretty easy going since we already knew each other and the dates were more fun than a scary interview.
We just celebrated 2 years of marriage.
Ask One Out
I was talking to a friend at work about why none of my chats on tinder seemed to go anywhere and how it was getting me down.
She then reminded me that if I wanted to go on a date with any of the them I'd actually need to ask one out. I tried and it turns out girls will actually say yes to dates quite a lot if you ask. I'm now engaged :)
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Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.