How to Unwrap Our 2022 Dating Wrapped
Another year has miraculously flown right under our noses, a year filled with intentions, manifestations, a few losses, and even more wins. If we count the small ones like getting up on the days, we felt too alone to function. But here we are, looking at 2023 dead in the face, filing our dating stories in our heads.
2022 Dating Wrappeds scroll across our screens as we watch others deal with the reality of dead-end first dates, second date fall throughs, talking stages, and undefined situationships. It’s validating to hear we aren’t alone in this dating cycle… dating whirlpool, to be scientifically correct.
A lens of sarcasm placed over our 2022 dates makes categorizing them less queasy. Unsaved numbers and crumbled-up receipts are easier to toss into the bin (on our phones, and homes). Cringy moments crawl to the back of our tending minds, making room for 2023 to pile in the vault. The holidays play their part as the perfect distraction in our yearly date wash cycle with ease. The past year’s dating experiences are wrapped up in a tight bow designed to never be opened again.
Yet, somehow closing the vault on these memories seems unfair to the time we gave them. Aren’t we the ones deciding to swipe and give our number to the bartender downtown? That person at the party who caught our eye. Didn’t we continue looking? We said yes to the friend set-up and to the first dates with normalized strangers from dating apps. Remember the unexpected connection we had with them? The little spark that fueled the innate desire to continue to put ourselves out there again. What about when dating went international even for just a night with a foreigner that made Abba lyrics seem touchable? And how do we explain the serendipitous moment we felt with the person who made us feel alive, even if it was just for a while?
By commending ourselves for taking the first step to date.
Dating is more than just a statistic on a PowerPoint slide. There are intricate details that make up every date. Built within the layers of every date are lessons. Pillars of opportunity that if we give them just enough attention, they’ll bring out a stronger version of ourselves we didn’t know existed. Dating is a part of us. Every person and date make up our healthy boundaries while breaking down the walls that hold us back.
They say knowledge is power. Knowing our dating experiences gives us strength. We made time in our year to go on these dates, now we should reward ourselves by giving that time back. The questions about our love life at the family holiday dinner can fly in at any moment from the unmarked submission box our cousin put there. Before their arrival, take a moment away from the holiday madness to create your own healthy 2022 Dating Wrapped. Step away from the PowerPoint and the statistics. Pour a drink or roll something funky and just process.
Pull off the filtered lens and reminisce on your dates, situationships, and heartbreaks. See into the dates that never made it past first. Keep the unexplainable city nights where the iridescent lights aligned. Remember the taxi windows that kept your racing mind safe after the kiss on the sidewalk. Or the shaded Uber window that kept the bright morning sun out of your eyes as you made your way home from their place. Feel the aches of the mini heartbreaks you have filed with new realizations about yourself. Keep the new boundaries and control that bloomed from the wibbly cracks. Thank the universe for the text that was sent without a reply. Without that ghost, you wouldn’t have found the moment you felt like your divine self while standing confidently and independently alone.
Our 2022 Dating Wrapped is the foundation for our 2023 dating experiences to grow with more intention and control. By understanding our 2022 story, we develop our voice and create our dating narrative. Neatly fold this year’s dates so they can be easily found in the moments we need them. To remind us of how much we’ve grown and what we are now capable of in our dating life, how we are no longer afraid of changing the rules and dating with our refreshed design.
Instead of starting with how many dates did I go on?
Ask yourself, how much did I learn?
Until next year x
