Living out in the countryside, you may feel like the only single for miles around. In fact you may well be the only single person for miles around. Here we take a look at coming to turns with your single status when you live out in the sticks and what you can do about it.
Before you run headlong into a plan to find love, take a closer look at how you feel about being single.
The expectation in the countryside tends to be towards younger marriages, with couples hooking up at school. Being single in your late 20s or early 30s may seem a little unusual. But before you start fretting about your singles status, consider how you would feel if you were living in a city. City dwellers tend to enjoy the single-life more, with no rush to find their long-term partner. Mentally transfer your current relationship status into a more urban environment and you may find yourself feeling more comfortable. If that’s the case it may be your lifestyle that needs to change rather than your marriage status.
Also before you wish away your single years, take a moment to reflect on what you love about it. No need to share the remote, or give up your free time to watch someone else’s sporting pursuits. You can stay in your pyjamas all day with no-one to see you, and get a good night’s sleep in the absence of a snorer or duvet-hogger.
Once you are at peace with your single status you can move forward into the world of dating with a more relaxed attitude, leading to much more enjoyable experience.
What makes countryside dating so difficult? Let’s use the common meeting ground of a bar on a Friday night to illustrate.
If you live in a city, you could go to any central bar on a Friday night, accompanied by a friend, and you are sure to meet other singles. In fact if you were to go on any night of the week you could meet other single people, and you’ll likely meet different people each night, giving you a whole host of singles to choose from.
If you live in the countryside and head to the local bar, or more likely pub, you will be greeted by just a handful of faces, very few of whom are likely to be single. And if they are single, they will be the same few single people who were there last week, and the week before, and the week before that. Most likely they are a group of people you grew up with and have known for years. If you haven’t hooked up with them by now, it’s not likely to happen any time soon.
Dating is a numbers game, and in the countryside the odds are not stacked in your favour.
There are few ways you can hunt out some fresh blood to liven up your dating game.
Keep an eye out for local events that will draw in people from other areas, like charity balls or country fairs. If there is so much as an envelope being opened nearby, you should be part of the crowd in attendance.
By far the quickest way to sift through large numbers of singles is to sign up with a free dating site. Pay attention to the distance you are willing to travel. The site will expose you to plenty of other single people, but they won’t all be within a sensible travelling distance to you. If continuing with countryside living is your plan, you should make this clear on your profile.
Alternatively you could take weekend breaks in your local town, so you can meet other singles that don’t live too far away.
However you find your new love, test their suitability for a countryside lifestyle by taking them on a hiking date, or horseback hack.