Dating in your twenties can be adventurous, exciting, liberating, and exhausting. It’s less Sex and the City and more The Walking Dead. There are far less perfect moments than Carrie Bradshaw ever wrote about and a lot more deciding if that guy is going to steal your stuff or feed you to the walkers – metaphorically speaking, of course. Dating is less then glamorous and honestly, those of us who can hack it deserve a medal.
I used to think I could gauge a guys situation based on his age; let me tell you, at twenty-two, no age is a good age. There’s pro’s and con’s to every age range and I have figured out almost all of them – impressed? When it comes to older guys, generally their situation is a little better. They’ve probably got their own place, their own car, and a decent job. Before I go any further, for all of you who think that stuff doesn’t matter as long as you love each other shit, shut up. It does matter, because I bet when he takes you to his cardboard box for dinner, you’ll be out of there faster than the cockroaches he shares it with. When you’re seventeen and he has no job, fine, be in love and don’t care about the future. But when you’re in your twenties, you’ve got to start thinking about where this guy will be in a couple years.
Now with older guys – I’m talking twenty-seven to thirty – you’ll get one of two guys: either his shit will be together and he’s going to expect a lot more out of a twenty-two year old then you can possibly give, like commitment and having your shit together, or his shit will really not be together, and you realize he’s running out of time to fix that. The latter of the two is the guy you can make poor decisions with until you’ve become somewhat of a grown up, and if you still haven’t, then you’re not ready for the good twenty-seven to thirty.
Guys my age are a whole different story and I’m not really a fan of dating in my own age range. The reason for that is simple: a relationship or dating is the last thing on the minds of the guys my age who I’m attracted to – guys who like sports, beer and Netflix; because it would be too easy to like the nice, sensitive ones, right? Also, these guys who don’t want a relationship don’t actually know how to date. It’s always better to take a girl out a couple times and then try to sleep with her rather than trying to screw her when you hang out with her at your house.
What about younger men, you ask? No. Don’t do it; you’re not even close to being on the same page so just move along.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are benefits of going out with these guys. Don’t automatically say no to the guy who has his own place even if his shit’s not together; uninterrupted sex, need I say more? And a guy your age is perfect for something casual if you’re just looking for fun and no commitment. And if you must go younger, they’re probably a great choice for a summer fling, because chances are they’ll get bored by the end of the summer or Boots and Hearts anyway.
So when it comes down to it, every aspect of dating, including the age range, is one big game of Russian Roulette. And even when you think you know what’s what, you’re really just taking a shot in the dark or shooting a gun with only one round. That’s the fun part though, right? You have to play the game to find the round; and in this case, the round is Mr. Right and when you find it, the game’s over.
