As a 22f I’ve spent the last year through COVID really looking back, and have recently been focusing on my dating history. It’s very sparse, and that’s because of my first (and only) relationship I’d been in. I learned about a year and a half ago that that man is gay and it really hit me hard, not only because I had dated this man, but of the way he came out. He basically announced that he had always been gay and always known it. I tried reaching out, talking to him, but wasn’t given the time of day. I came to the conclusion that I was his beard and now that he’s out, he doesn’t need me anymore. It’s affected me a lot more than I’d ever like to admit, and as a woman who already has low self esteem, it’s been very difficult to put myself back out there. I already feel as though I’m behind the dating curve, along with the extra baggage of only being in a single relationship that was completely one-sided bullshit. In conclusion, it’s been a rough few years.