I think for women at our age (50s), it will always be hard. Yes, I have my standards, but I'm not willing to settle with just anyone anymore. It's like someone who said something along the lines of "guess I'll know it's him when I see him."

One reason it is sometimes hard is unrealistically "high" standards (or really just unrealistic standards). I have known of women (my SIL for example) who every man they consider when perusing dating sites gets a maximum 10 seconds of thought and is rejected with "too short" "too tall" "too bald" "too old" "too young", too something. And all the criteria seems to be external appearance-oriented. That woman is NEVER going to find anyone. Maybe she thinks she's still 30 instead of 50, I don't know. Her standards were too "high" then, too.

I think one has to ask oneself if they really find value in companionship on a day to day, moment to moment basis, warts and all. If not, quit the game. It's a legitimate decision. But if you see value, then make sure you're not expecting an exact reproduction of a past love and/or a persistent mental / emotional fantasy. Every one brings something different to the table ... different values, different annoyances. You have to be able to accept them as / where they are without the condition that you get to hector them into shape.

I'm not suggesting any of the above is why it's hard for you, I'm just observing what I've seen over the years. Also I'm not suggesting that I haven't seen men do their own version of this.

Women seek men that they can change. Men seek women hoping they won't change. The men you meet are genuine. They just arn't what you want. So it's important to be clear about what you want. And it's even more important to understand what men want. When you've done all that, you will realize that a good match is very hard to come by. And in the hunt, you will cover ground fastest by saying clearly what it is you want. If you want sex, say you want sex. If you want intelligent conversation, say so. And so on. And don't be surprised if what you want is more than one person.

I can't help nut notice meeting women and getting dates was a lot easier when was younger. I'm not imagining it, it rally was. I can only conclude it gets tougher as we get older for some reason.

Addendum: That's what she said!

Getting older and being single person seeking companionship is a catch 22. We know better, are wiser, and more comfortable in our own skin than in our younger years. But we have to many crummy experiences that have made us put up walls and made us super cautious, making it hard to be our true selves right away.

No, it's not simple, and in the online forums, things are very often not what they seem.