I’ve never had any sort of romantic experience. I’m 18 years old, I’m in good shape and I’m generally considered to be pretty attractive. I’ve probably had plenty of chances to try stuff but I’ve always believed that when it comes to relationships and stuff that it’s worth waiting to find someone you have a real connection with.
However, I’ve recently been feeling somewhat stigmatized because of this. I’ve started to be given a hard time about “You get no bitches” and “Loser Virgin” etc from both guys and girls. I know it’s a choice I’ve been making and I know I shouldn’t care what other people think and they’re just being assholes but people constantly judging me becomes very belittling and starts to eat away at my self respect.
Putting other people aside and looking more internally though, I haven’t had as much life experience as other people my age. I was in an all boys boarding school for a good chunk of high school and I bounced around schools for the rest eventually just going into virtual school. When you take that on top of me just not being a very emotional person in general, I definitely feel detached from other people in my age group and I think I come across as cold or awkward when interacting.
I also partially feel like a lot of modern media and culture has put an emphasis on young romance and people have made this deadline of what age you should have your first kiss etc.
I just slowly see this turning from a choice to a problem reflecting my self worth and I think I just feel really confused. I keep finding myself asking questions like “Am I abnormal for this? Would I just be better off if I rushed into everything right now? Will I ever even meet someone that I would want to marry? Would they not like me back because of all this if I did? How old is too old to keep waiting?” I hope it’s all just me being too hard on myself but I wanted to hear what some other people’s opinions were and maybe get some advice. Thanks in advance for any help :)
