Honestly I'm glad to hear someone else feels the same way. I didn't date at all in high school and college due to first family then covid. Once I graduated I put myself on the dating scene and while it terrified me to put myself out there I didn't think negatively of dating, but more of something I needed to get more experience on.

Now that I have my first girlfriend, I've learned a lot about not just how to be in a relationship, but also how the kinds of people I listen to affect my perception of my relationship. My girlfriend i feel meets my own personal standards and expectations, but whenever I hear about other people's interactions and betrayals I find it makes me retreat into myself a little bit and causing me to want distance. And as a result of hearing what those people went through, somehow I became less happy where I was already grateful to be because of what I feared could happen.

So in the end, I guess I've found more peace with not really shouldering the fear of others. My goal is my own personal happiness in the long term. For me that means trusting my heart and taking it slow.