. Danny: I wanted to spend more time in my original answer dealing with some of the LW’s premises/beliefs instead of offering practical advice, especially since she doesn’t yet seem prepared to *try* dating yet — but I’m curious to see where you want to start Isaac: To begin with, my heart goes out to this letter writer — I’ve felt a lot of this myself, this sense that other people instinctively understand things about dating that I can’t even figure out intellectually. I also know very well the merry-go-round of “no one will ever be interested in me, except for the people who are interested in me, but they don’t count.” I’ve literally been married and I’m still capable of convincing myself of that! So I’m inevitably going to project about this question, but I would also want the LW to know that I recognize these feelings.