Feeling Worthy Of Dating With A Piss-Poor Track Record?
So, despite my efforts, the extent of my dating experience is (often non-reciprocated/banterous) flirting online. I've never had a girlfriend. I've never been kissed. Heck, I've never even been on a date. I have however been turned down/rejected amongst other negative experiences that have seen my confidence beaten to a pulp.
I am in the process of fixing and improving some aspects of my appearance (e.g. my weight, my style, my posture and my skin), but I feel that even fixing these things won't be enough for girls I'm interested in to find me attractive, because I feel I have imperfections that I can't fix/that are too costly to fix that will always detract majorly from my appearance.
And I don't think my standards are unfairly high (I'm not after supermodels or anything). I just want someone that I'm at least a little attracted to (physically) and compatible with (mentally and emotionally) to reciprocate my interest, but I still feel like no matter what I do, I will never be good enough. And as sad as it may sound, being shown without a doubt that it's even possible for someone I'm interested in to be interested in me is actually more important to me than finding a relationship, because that's how much I've come to doubt myself due to my negative experiences.
So what are these negative experiences exactly? Well most are based on girls showing interest in other guys but never showing interest in me, but I've also been criticised, both maliciously and constructively on my appearance to the point that I feel like I'll never be attractive enough.
To be fair, this was year or two ago, but I was regularly using meetme, and the girls would offer to rate the guys on their appearance. I consistently received the lowest rating they were willing to give anyone (from about 20 girls). You might make the argument that the girls on these sorts of websites are just shallow, but I could see the ratings they gave to other guys, and they were almost always higher than the rating I received, so how can I not feel inadequate about my looks?
Furthermore, I have a Tinder account. I swipe right about 60-70% of the time depending on the day, and since remaking my tinder and going through at least 300 right swipes, I have received a total of FOUR matches. Only one of whom has replied to my messages, and she only recently told me that she's ALREADY SEEING SOMEONE.
I've made a lot of internet friends on another dating site I'm on (it's kinda a little community), and I've seen many instances where the girls on this site flirt with guys on there/compliment them. If I want a compliment too, I pretty much have to beg for it, and even then I still rarely get one. The only time people ever tell me I'm attractive/alright is if I make a post similar to this exposing my insecurities. I wouldn't actually consider a long distance relationship, but it'd be nice to know somebody could at least be attracted to me.
Nobody ever sees me as dating material. I'm not saying that they should just because I want them to. I just wish there was something I could do to turn my situation around and perhaps come to the realisation that girls can like me, or will be attracted to me if I do _____ or change _____. If I could feel good about myself, and feel as though it's possible for girls to be interested in me, I feel I'd be able to take a more proactive approach to dating, but as it stands, I feel like trying to do so will almost certainly lead to me receiving further reason to doubt myself.
So how can I possibly feel like girls can be interested in me when girls never seem interested in me?
*A collection of pictures of myself*
http://imgur.com/a/TQYaJ
You look like any regular dude. There's no reason to feel bad about how you look. Don't listen to online swipers!
Now I think it's time to work on self esteem. I genuinely believe something good that people can do for themselves is gain confidence in other areas of life, rather than just the dating side of life, and that will have a knock on effect of making the person confident overall and increase overall attractiveness.
What do you enjoy doing? Can you find a social club that does that? Can you volunteer for a charity and do something for other people. One of the greatest joys in life is helping others and that can in itself build confidence.
I would say your problem is twofold: you have a number of pictures that are pretty similar . You don't look bad by any means but my first reaction to you is that you look rather boring and generic. Dare I say you look very 'dead' in every one of them. The second is the fact you are using Tinder. Most "normal" people I know won't touch that site with a ten foot pole for good reasons. You need thick skin to date online: there are a lot of messed up people who will project their issues onto you.
You are doing a lot better than I was at that age. I was so utterly clueless I still shake my head looking at all the obviously signs I missed.
You look like a normal guy. You're appearance isn't what's stopping you from getting dates.
If Tinder and the dating site you're currently on aren't working for you, go sign up for a few different (free) ones. If you've got a good friend or two who are good at saying, you might want to ask them to take a peek at your profile and ask for suggestions. You could also ask said friends (and also family members) to set you up on a bind date, since almost everybody has a single friend/sister/colleague/etc. or sign up for an activity you like where girls are likely to be present.
There's no magic formula to dating. nobody, but nobody, can tell you to do X + Y and guarantee you that it'll result in a girlfriend.
The self-loathing is something you might to work on. If you hate yourself so much you want to crawl out of your skin, well, that comes across (even if you think you're hiding it) and likely dooms your dating efforts.
