So - my partner died in 20. Grief and loneliness have been hard to take, but I’m enduring, and I’m starting to think about a new relationship, in other words, dating. The ratio of single women to single men my is about a million to one. Normally there were a few organizations and hobby groups in my town where I could go meet people. But because of Covid, dating apps are about the safest way for people to meet. Even on this site secularists are so sparse that men I’d like to meet live so far away that I can’t even contemplate starting a conversation, let alone projecting a future relationship. I don’t think I’m being too picky - there’s just a lot of obstacles between California and Florida. So when I’ve looked on OKCupid, Bumble and Match, it’s possible to filter out most religious folk, but sometimes the profiles say wiggle words that obscure their orientation such as “other,” “Christian but I’m laughing about it,” or my new nemesis, “spiritual.” I got into a discussion with an otherwise nice man this morning about Christopher Hitchens and I think he thought I was challenging his faith. I didn’t think I was, but it left me feeling defensive and depressed.
So does anyone have experience with navigating this landscape? What works? How do you meet people? Is it appearance, or is the bio as important?