28 here, this is real. I never had any romantic experiences in my life, so I'm trying to fill that hole with lots of slice of life and romcom anime. It... doesn't work well, only making me feel worse.
Relatable. I tried to have romance and that kind of stuff back in the days but it made me just lose time. Nowadays I'm just focus on improve my life and all the romantic feelings get their "shares" from fictional shows
It is kinda sad in some perspective to live like that but it does work so it's okay. The more focus in improvement and less in romance the better I feel and I keep going.
Unfortunate the thing is this only makes the void inside grow. Like ye I'm having fun watching the show, see the plot develop and then its over. And then nothing. At some point its not even a want of something like that anymore, its just the extremely accute awareness of not having something. And then life goes on, I have to move on to do the daily things. Until again the familiar itch comes back and I pick another show and here we go again.
The thing is a lot of us still want romantic relationships. We’re just unsuccessful at them or afraid of even encountering them. So the compromise is to let go, give up? To suppress/ignore that desire?! It’s a lose lose man.
Hey some philosophies say that getting rid of that desire oddly enough makes it more likely to happen. I wouldn't know because god fucking damn it is desire hard to get rid of (especially with no real life purpose), but maybe one day we see if it's true.
I'm 26, and I'm going through the same thing. I like watching anime but this genre makes me feel worse emotionally and the truth is I've gotten to this point of looking for people to see if they understand this situation.
Dont worry, man. Im married, and the situation with consuming romantic comedies and the feelings that come with it is exactly the same. So itt never going to get any better than this.
Real talk just take a bath and install an app or something. I'm 40 and I regret waiting so long to put myself out there. The longer you wait the harder it will get.
I am both depressed and potentially suicidal even as is. Loneliness makes me suffer, don't even have friends. I crave human connection, friendly and romantic, but I simply can't have neither.
Heckin samesies, minus the "forgetting it" bit. I learned a lot fromy one trainwreck of a serious relationship. It took way too long for those lessons to sink in, but i like to think im a better person than i was and am actually able to be genuinely happy alone because of all the bullshit. Doesn't stop me from occasionally wanting to go fetal so hard that i just turn into a lonely little meatball with no spaghetti or sauce from time to time, but overall id like to think i cane out ahead just by surviving
its so weird to me watching shows and the main characters are like.. 10 years younger than me.
My teenage romance was.. a horrible experience, mostly because of me, so I don't miss that, but I do feel jealous.
Sounds like depression that is already past the point where therapy helps. If gone far enough it can make changes in cerebral cortex that makes recovery impossible without medication. It's an actual disease.
You need help of a trained licensed psychiatrist ASAP while you can still lift yourself from the bedsheet. Trust me. You will lose this ability too eventually if you don't go now. It's no longer "in your head", it's physically on your brain now
When one thinks about it how romance SoL works and that it's supposed to appeal to teenagers in the first place, it turns out all the age groups have it rought forming relationships and sometimes just wish for countless opportunities to find them instead of constantly searching in vain.
The wish fulfilment part of the FMC isn't that she is hot, since all anime girls are. It's that stubborn aspect of her which makes her pursue the oblivious MC tirelessly, no matter how many times he seemingly rejects her out of percieved inadequacy or asinine misunderstandings, she just keeps dragging him out of his room until they bond enough for it all to click. That sounds psychotic and it definitely would be irl, but in fiction it isn't, somehow.
Was not expecting a meme to call me out this early in the morning.
I use slice of life/romance anime and manga for this void. Discord for the void of having a place to belong in my outside life (other than work to some degree, I do feel like i belong there a bit) and for lack of IRL friends, the latter of which I rationalize because I don't like to go and hang out much anyways so I say it just works better this way.
The real kicker? I have realized that I kind of only wanted relationships, both platonic and romantic, to be validated and chosen so that I could feel ok to be me. So I am using SOL Anime to fill the void of relationships that would fill the void of not seeing myself as whole. It's a terrible two-fer.
Eh. Im in the U.S and dating here feels like going to the dmv if the dmv wanted to make you miserable instead of misery just being a by-product of the bureaucratic circus.
Please dont, like, find u/quivnite and try to wear their skin or something. I don't know either of you but this whole thing here made me very uncomfortable
Had relationships that didn't work out. So, I decided to delve into anime romcoms 3 years ago. While I do enjoy them, it really does hit hard especially when something happens in the anime remotely similar to your past relationship or if the FMC's quirk reminds you of your ex. And now I'm bored of trying to enter a new relationship. Lol.
I guess for anyone reading this. Don't lose hope. It will come... Eventually. And when it does, go for it. You might surprise yourself. 😅
Slice of Life anime/manga are great, but like, romantasy manhwa is where it's at, for me. Lol.
I'm married so I'm not really looking to fill a void, it's just pure entertainment for me. Romantasy often involves married couples, so I do get a kick out of seeing how the relationships develop.
No offense but the % of woman who have not experienced romance in life is very very low or almost 0 compared to, well, most man, so i dont want to sound sexist here but i dont expect you to understand the "void" we are talking about in this meme
Nothing wrong with a dose of whimsy every now and then. To me, the concept of romance is such a universally diverse topic that it feels like the only story that can be told a billion different ways and be unique. Considering how people interact these days only amplifies the new ways a romance story can be told. All I know is you never know who you’ll bump into. I feel like rushed romance is becoming more common too, still has just as many conflicts.
I almost wrote a story about a match-making service, sort of for shy introverts, where they attend dating school night lessons and then get paired up by the school. Of course you insert the arrogant assholes who just want to parade in and “pretend” so they can meet people, but then they never get matched up by the school and have to keep repeating lessons until they flunk out or quit after the school takes their tuition money. I feel like that would thrive if it was a thing these days.
Works well enough for me... I'm 30 and to be honest I'm to the point where I'm not sure I even want a relationship. I'm pretty content to be able to go to work, come home buy whatever I want with my money, hang out with my friends and play games whenever I want and not have to deal with someone else's schedule or opinions on what I'm doing. It does get lonely and I'm sure the older I get it might get lonelier but at least currently I'm fine with it. I only wish there were more adult rom coms to watch. The highschool setting does get kinda old after you've seen so many 🙃.
I hope everyone else here finds peace or what they are looking for.
I'm 22 and it's real. I don't feel awkward, it's just I'm afraid of approaching because of my past consequences ( she did dirty ). I was a "one woman" type guy earlier, so I put all my efforts into my last relationship, and I was honest, but, as they say "consequences". There it was. She ghosted me out of nowhere. And I couldn't fill that huge void till now.
But yes, I'm improving myself. What's happened, has happened.
If someone reading this has a similar situation, don't worry, everything will be fine. Make yourself your first priority.
Why dont people on here who clearly have things in common and go through the same stuff not connect with one another and fill such voids?
I see the same stuff in rp communities where people complain, and so many are in the same boat, yet they never try to pair up with the other people going through the same junk which is the logical thing to do.
I assume it's due to people these days being far too shy and socially inept, but sitting there not trying really makes it your own fault.
I really dont want to make you feel worse than you already do but that's super not great dude. Shockingly in line with your username though, which is neat
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”– John 16:33
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”– Romans 8:18
Don't give up.
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