When you’ve spent years being single, alone and genuinely comfortable in your own company, dating can feel surprisingly difficult. You get used to your own routines, your own space, your quiet mornings, your peaceful nights and the freedom of not having to constantly consider someone else. So when someone new comes into your life, it can feel strange. Not because you don’t want companionship, but because suddenly the solitude you worked so hard to become comfortable with has to be shared. You miss having your own space. You miss the silence. You miss being completely alone without having to explain that you’re not upset or distant. You simply enjoy your own company. Maybe that’s the hardest part of dating after learning to love your solitude: you’re not afraid of being alone anymore, so you have to find someone whose presence feels just as peaceful as your absence of them.