I just got ghosted by the girl I was talking to, I want to find another girl to talk to. This girl and I met at the gym, but I don't want to be the guy that goes to the gym just to meet girls. I mean sure there's the bar and Tinder, but I want a real relationship. I mean, I guess it'll come to me.
38 and I still hate hearing that. I think the people that believe this just got lucky and have some survivorship bias or something.
If you're a guy you have to do something. Women will not just walk into your life, you have to actively try to find someone. If you don't have a circle of friends it's exponentially more difficult (see recent man vs bear in the woods conversations) as women want absolutely nothing to do with a "strange" man (as in a stranger).
Online dating is for young people (low 20s) successful people (wealthy travelers) and the very very attractive. If you're a "typical" guy the experience is soul crushing.
Yeah, I think sometimes people hear stop looking for a bf/gf and hear stop meeting people. The trick is to focus on bettering yourself and/or being happy outside of a relationship and your natural boost in confidence and value will likely get you out of your relationship slump. If you're actively pursuing friendships with no stakes beyond genuine enjoyment, I think it does up your chances.
Also people hear stop looking for a relationship, and hear stop dating. I think it can mean just stop looking for the one. Stop looking for someone who completes you. Take your foot off the gas, be open to a shorter relationship or fling. You might be surprised what you find in a relationship when there's no pressure for it to work. My sister and I both found our husbands in relationships we thought were definitely going to only be short term.
Plus a lot of very attractive people who get lots of attention have zero clue what it's like to be an average person who gets little to none. And they all think they 'are just average'. Or that other people should just 'make more of an effort'. Wealth has a lot to do with it too. Ask a welathy person for dating advice and they will just tell you go out and drop five figures out the latest fashionable designer outfits... which isn't viable for the person of an average wealth who is only spending like a grand or two a year on clothing.
Things are privileges because you don't know you have them. And pretty people are clueless about how they are treated and assume everyone else gets their level of interest.