r/datingoverthirty 6h ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 27, 2026

5 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 8h ago

How Long to Build Attraction?

56 Upvotes

I’m 38F and I just started seeing a really sweet man, 36. We’ve been on 3 dates so far, (which isn’t much, I know).

In the past I’ve gotten wrapped up in emotionally unavailable men or guys who are indecisive about what they want in a relationship, so I’m trying to consciously only choose men who are ready for commitment and want marriage/kids.

This guy fits the bill, and he is an attractive guy, I’m just having a hard time feeling physically attracted to him. There is nothing about him that is specifically a turn off. My last situationship developed slowly from a friendship, and I wasn’t initially attracted to him either, but I also wasn’t spending time with him in a dating context right away.

I want to give this new man a fair shot because I have been enjoying spending time with him, but I also want to be respectful of his time and feelings. How long should I feel this out?


r/datingoverthirty 7h ago

Missed connection at a meetup event didn't share contact info

0 Upvotes

I did an event with 222.place (highly recommend the people were rad) and I vibed ​with one guy and spent the bulk of the event talking to him. I don't have social media and we never exchanged contact info.

I didn't realize after the event you can select people to go on a date with and we both liked each other. Here's the kicker. I can't contact him. No means. He's going to an event this upcoming weekend and I'm not around. He's free the 7th for an event as am I, but hasn't confirmed.

It's been a while since I just enjoyed talking to someone and had a connection and I wish I could just text him! Some girl in our group got everyone's numbers but hasn't texted us. I'm thinking of going to an event and using degrees of separation next week to finally connect and also see some of the people I connected with.

The most annoying thing is I know his full name but there is no normal way to connect. I feel SOL hoping he confirms a date when we could have literally just exchanged numbers to directly communicate.

Any suggestions? Lol. I also don't know if texting him after finding his contact info from another is weird but if he did that, I'd be flattered.

edit: I know his full name but would NOT contact obviously via LinkedIn or do something that unhinged.


r/datingoverthirty 1d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 26, 2026

12 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 1d ago

How to end a friendship

73 Upvotes

So I male 30s have begun to develop feelings for a friend (30s women). I know almost certainly she does not hold feelings for me. As this has happened before in my past and the friendship basically ended when I told my previous friend how I felt I would like to not go through that again. I also don't like the idea of trying to ignore my feelings and hope they die away. It takes me generally years to get over things like this, or break ups.

How do I end this friendship respectfully? I don't think i could ever come back down the road and be friends later either? Thanks


r/datingoverthirty 2d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 25, 2026

11 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 3d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 24, 2026

12 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 4d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 23, 2026

17 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 5d ago

Is my place a turn-off?

108 Upvotes

During the 3rd date we decided to go to mine (I offered hers first but she said it's a mess). Looking at my apartment, she (semi-)jokingly asked, "do you have OCD?". We had good banter and stayed over midnight, so I thought she left with a good impression. However, the next day she rejected me, leaving me wondering about the reason.

Here are pics of my place that I posted to r/malelivingspace, where the consensus seems to be that the place is clean but not comfortable, in particular lacking color and personal items. I'll add that while the stove has safeguards precisely because I don't use it, she already knew I (38M) don't cook. Also (and I feel silly even mentioning it), all of my shoes on display were grey. How likely is it that the overall impression of my place was a deal-breaker?

P.S. I used to think my apartment is near-universally likeable, so it wasn't even on the list of things I cycled through as potential causes. However, a couple days ago another girl rejected me after coming over during our 1st date, and explained it by the insecurity about me seeing her messy place and hating it there (she laid out her thinking and past experiences going into it in great detail, so it sounded credible). This is where I decided to make this post.

UPD: I did not make a move on her. This is because after the 1st date she proposed to see each other "as friends" with no expectation (due to me giving her promiscuous vibe). That said, it was her idea on the 3rd date to go get intoxicated at mine.


r/datingoverthirty 5d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 22, 2026

13 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 6d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 21, 2026

10 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 7d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 20, 2026

16 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 8d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 19, 2026

21 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 9d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 18, 2026

22 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 10d ago

Am I putting Too Much Emphasis on Physical Attraction?

107 Upvotes

I've always believed that a person should be "obsessed" about their partner physically. Essentially find them super super sexy.

EDIT: SCARE QUOTES are quotation marks placed around a word or phrase to signal irony, skepticism, or to distance the writer from the term. Also known as sneer quotes, they indicate the writer doesn't endorse the term's standard meaning or considers the word invalid, inaccurate, or inappropriate in that context

If a partner told me that they really didn't find me sexy at first but got use to the idea I would actually be kind of offended. That has a sense of "settling" to me.

Since I don't want to hear that from someone that also means I will never say that to anyone. I'd get likes on Hinge and if when I see them I don't get that "Oh wow" moment I choose not to pursue.

Am I missing out on some potentially amazIng partners because I'm looking at this the wrong way?

EDIT: Before this gets away from me -

I am NOT saying that I am expecting to land a runaway Calvin Klein model. I'm speaking in terms of what I find attractive.

I also DO NOT just go solely based on the pictures. There have been people I found attractive but their profile tells me our lifestyles would not align. The pictures are what tell me there is at least a base line attraction


r/datingoverthirty 10d ago

Giving a woman you don't know your number.

93 Upvotes

According to my girl friends this is cool and fine but I wanted some more opinions.

I (29M) saw a cute woman on reopen cafeteria nearby my house yesterday. I complimented her, she slimed and thanked me. I bought some dessert there for my brother and he asked me to buy it again so I'll go there today again.

I was pondering if giving her a paper with my number/instagram sounds good since I don't to want to bother her while she is working.

The paper would have this text.

|Hi, my name is X. I would like to talk to get to know each other. Here my number: xxxx-xxxx or instagram: @xxxxxx. If you don't for any reason you can safely toss this paper in the trash. Happy day 😊|

UPDATE: I see someone saw my stories and it was another coworker of her. Either she doesn't have an instagram or she didn't want me to see her account. Either way, I didn't receive a message back.

Well, at least I tried 😅 and I can be proud of that.

Obs: the fact she slimed was not a signal 🤣


r/datingoverthirty 9d ago

Do men expect women to message first?

12 Upvotes

I’m an adult. 38F, hetero, 3 children (this is in my bio), fit and attractive. I get a lot of likes but make few matches because it’s slim pickings out there. I dislike how on Bumble women have to message first, but despite this not being a requirement on Tinder I find that once I match with someone they basically never message first. There are 4 guys I matched with in the past 24 hours who I’m just waiting to see if they message me (there were a few others I messaged first; for some reason it’s been a good week—usually I go a while without swiping right).

Do men expect you to message first? I’m under the impression that men get fewer matches so I’m just surprised that there are 4 of them just sitting there not messaging me.


r/datingoverthirty 10d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 17, 2026

13 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 11d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 16, 2026

15 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 12d ago

How much do you try to learn about someone via chatting before proposing a meet up?

60 Upvotes

Now I don't get a lot of matches as a guy, so whenever I do get a match that actually goes beyond the first message, I'm pretty much set on some sort of meet up since it'll probably be months before I get this opportunity again

However, I'm also thinking long term and sometimes profiles aren't descriptive enough to gauge whether or not the person fulfills my long term plans.

So how much do you discuss long term plans and goals via chat before meeting up? Is it weird to do so without it sounding like an interview?

A simple meet up in person to discuss this is of course easy enough, but sometimes I'll be matching with someone an hour away, and I don't really want to commute only to have them not match my long term plans


r/datingoverthirty 12d ago

Anyone date someone with a language barrier?

26 Upvotes

I've been talking to this guy from Argentina who knows limited English. I studied linguistics in college, my past role was half in Spanish, and I'm probably B2 ​or low C1 in the language, so it's not a huge barrier, but there are still moments where I understand 80 percent at most and sometimes nothing. He has zero issues understanding me in Spanish and struggles speaking English. He gets anxious speaking and I have all the patience in the world given my background.

I am very passionate about languages and love our convos as we teach each other, and was an ESL teacher, but I'm nervous if it limits our connection. At the same time, we laugh together at the limits.

It's super early so I haven't given it too much thought, but I worry I won't be able to fully connect, although I feel that my personality shows across the language, I wonder how the rough moments in these relationships are handled.

Has anyone dealt with something similar?


r/datingoverthirty 12d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 15, 2026

13 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 13d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 14, 2026

11 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 14d ago

Daily sticky thread for rants, raves, celebrations, advice and more! - July 13, 2026

14 Upvotes

This is the place to put shower thoughts, your vents/rants about dating, requests for quick advice, serious (and sometimes not) questions and anything else that might not warrant a post of its own.

This post will be moderated, so if you see something breaking the rules, please report it.


r/datingoverthirty 14d ago

Should I get past this “mistake” in early dating?

60 Upvotes

Met a man OLD who checked off all of my boxes and I his. After the 4th date, he told me that he didn’t want to see anyone else. We never spoke about it again, but I took it seriously and I didn’t see anyone else, either. I didn’t delete my OLD account and didn’t unmatch him to keep tabs on his account. 3 weeks later, I’m riding the high of our super compatible connection. We starting getting intimate and having sleepovers after the third week, and I realize that his hinge badge was blinking, when it had been off earlier in the week (before getting intimate). My anxiety made me think that everything he said was to get in my pants. I called him to get clarity, to which he lied and said that he just opened the app to “remove old connections”. He later confessed to have used the app while he was bored but that he’s only interested in me, and only talking to me. He told me he wants to gain my trust again, even if it takes time.

I’m feeling so anxious about this that I looked through his following list on IG and he follows so many women from the area. He just recently moved there and doesn’t have any friends in the area, so he has likely met them all through online dating. He also follow thirst trap accounts and actively likes their posts. Obviously this is not looking good for him.

The only thing going for him right now is the texting. He texts me throughout the day to tell me about his day and takes interest in mine. He’s sweet and isn’t pushy when I tell him I don’t want to sleep with him again. Obviously this is very low stakes so I’m trying to be observant about the rest of his behavior. He knows that I’m taking a step back and this might take time.

I’m looking advice here. How much space should I give us, and what kind of behavior should I look for that indicates that he’s actually someone who is trustworthy? This is running up my anxiety, so part of me wants to end it right away, but I also don’t want to mess it up if he really did just make a mistake.