What advice/perspective would you give to the countless number of young men who feel hopeless in their pursuit of a romantic partner?

Bluntly: honestly self assess and date further down the totem pole. I’m not a 10. I’m a 5. I think my wife is the most beautiful woman on the planet, but most other guys would assess her to be a 5. If that’s not working out, assess honestly your finances, personality, etc. And date further down the totem pole if you are lacking in some of that.

You’ll get lots of garbage about “don’t give up hope! There’s a partner for you!” and yeah - there probably IS a partner for you. But your net might have to be wider. Again, I say this as a really average guy with bad physical health. That means the prettiest gold medal winner at the Olympics probably would not date me. So I had to be realistic - and once I opened up to that fact I met and married an amazing woman.

It took me a while to get there because my oldest sister was a prom court girl who was in cheerleading. She was immensely popular and her teammates were at the house a lot. My idea of “cute girl” was waaaay beyond what was achievable for me.

/r/AskMen Thread