Imagine you are socially awkward when you are younger. You don't talk to women when you are in 7th or 8th grade. You never learn how to do it and the burden just keeps growing inside you. You want to talk to them. It's not even about sex after a while. You just want to know what the other half of the species is like.

And in all that time you are still interacting with them. You are doing class projects or having them take your order at Wendys. But you aren't really interacting with them on a meaningful level.

And then... when you turn 25 a single woman comes up and says you are cute. That is the 1st compliment you have ever received from a woman. Imagine. 25 years go by and you receive 1 compliment from a woman that isn't your mother or aunt. It's quite amazing. You feel great. You feel ecstatic.

But you quickly give up on pursuing the idea. After all, you have walked by thousands of women and not a single one has gone out of their way to talk to you. The evidence says this is some kind of trap. It has to be a trap. There is no other conclusion you can draw from the data.

So another 5 years go by and you don't get any more compliments. But suddenly older women start noticing you. In fact, they start talking to you a lot and striking up conversations. But you soon realize they all have children, or are a little crazy in the head, or they just want you to buy them things. Their compliments come with strings attached. You have just entered the 30s zone.

I can't tell you what happens next. I haven't been there yet but I can see the writing on the wall. I can see a life of emptiness. A life of putting up a mask so others can't see how damaged you really are. It's a sad life because you don't know what it could have been.

I know because this is my life.