Look at your profile on any social media network and check out your pictures and your posts. Do they reflect you to the fullest extent? Probably not. You are more likely to post flattering pictures then the ones of you when you first wake up in the morning (even those pictures are probably stylized to some degree) and your posts are probably more thought out so you sound profound and witty.
Now don’t think you’re doing something wrong! We are all guilty of this at one point or another. We just want to put our best foot forward. If you get a call from your parents that they are 15 minutes away for a surprise visit, you’re probably going to run through your house, picking up little messes and straightening things up.
When it comes to online dating sites, there is always room for improvement and tweaking on your profile. We go through our profiles with a fine tooth comb and take out things that may be questionable, fib on some aspects of our lives, and sometimes down right lie.
This is a downfall many people face when online dating. They want to appeal to a larger group of singles rather than focusing on finding someone who they are compatible with. By creating a profile that isn’t entirely true and saying what they think will attract people, they are short changing themselves because people won’t get to know the real them.
So, when you do go on a date with someone thanks to a “not-so-honest profile”, you run the risk of not forming a solid connection because that compatibility just isn’t there. While we crop our pictures, choosing common interests, and soften the harsher truths, we are making the mistake of hiding our true selves from people, thanks to the belief that our real selves isn’t good enough to be loved.
This is frustrating for the people who run online dating sites that use algorithms to match people together. How can an algorithm work if the users aren’t inputting honest answers? If you cannot describe yourself accurately, how will anyone who might be interested in you, find you?
Online dating is a safe way to start dating again if you’ve been single for any length of time. It gives you the opportunity to be honest—despite how scary it may feel. You can use these sites to explore a side of you that you normally keep tucked away because you don’t think anyone can relate to you. And if you are someone who normally shies away from meeting people face to face, you can use this as a way to work your way to a face to face meeting.
In order to have success on an online dating site, you have to resist temptation to make your profile too perfect. If you can find the courage to honestly fill out the questions and post pictures that are real and not too perfect, you’ll find that you will find a connection with someone who can appreciate you for exactly who you are. For real.
