“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”- Paulo Coelho

Hi, I am an addict!  I am not even sure what I am really addicted to.  I am addicted to online dating.  I am addicted to searching for a boyfriend.  Not to finding one, just the endless searching.

I am addicted to that very early dance we do at the beginning of connecting to someone. I am addicted to getting emails from strangers and shifting through them to find the one. I just realized that I am a treasure hunter.

I am addicted to hope, to potential and to possibilities!

Similar to a gold prospector panning for gold, shaking and sweeping until the gold stays in the bottom and the worthless materials are at the top,  I scan through all the emails looking for the precious one.

The beginning is exciting!  At the beginning of anything the sky is the limit. Anything is possible, anything can happen.  Of course, after a while I get disappointed or I disappoint and things are over before the actual beginning begins.  But I don’t worry.  I don’t bat an eyelash and I am on to the next one.

Fully aware that this is becoming a habit, an addiction, I decided to deactivate my 2 online dating profiles and take a break.  (I do have a date scheduled with someone that I had been speaking to before my decision.  He seemed like a nice guy.  I couldn’t just disappear on him, could I?)

“I dwell in possibility…” – Emily Dickinson

So I go ahead and deactivate my profiles.  After a day I am restless and incessantly aimlessly googling stuff on the internet.  On the second day I don’t know what to do with myself.  I have tons of projects to get to it, still I can’t seem to focus on any of them. I am not productive. I am lost.

What do I do?  No, I didn’t hold on tight,  full of resolve and will power.

I put an ad on Craigslist!

Yes you read correctly.  From Online dating sites to Craigslist, I guess I just went from the frying pan into the fire. I can feel the burn.

I know it is Craigslist but if I am there, other awesome people could be there too. In the past I did meet some nice people through various ads on Craigslist (selling/buying tickets, etc), so I know it can happen.  Why do I feel I have to defend it?

Now I am back in the cycle of getting and sorting through emails.  This is probably the way an addict feels when they get a shot of their drug.  I feel calm and elated all at once.

One would be surprised to see the number of sane, intelligent emails I get.  Of course I wrote a post that would elicit responses from the type of people I want and would bore the ones I don’t want to hear from.  I also do get my share of emails from the sleazy, fake or just plain jerk. And I still don’t know if the great emails are from real people.

I can have amazing conversations with people I never met. To discover an amazing mind in a sea of stupidity feels like finding a treasure.  Perhaps the freedom and the anonymity of the internet makes it possible.  It seems in real life people are always so guarded and afraid to connect.  I do understand that some of those connections are just illusory.  Still the possibility of being real is enough for me.

I am an addict, I am a treasure hunter, I am an user and an abuser.  Recognizing I have a problem is the first step. Wait, is it a problem? Is it a problem being hopeful and pro-active?

Perhaps I am just guilty of being a dreamer and believer.  At the end of the day my biggest problem and my biggest blessing is beign a forever hopeful.  I know I will have my fairy-tale, I just know it in my heart.  I know it will find me and I don’t have to keep searching, but I can’t help wanting to be pro-active and wanting to give the Universe a hand.

“I worship individuals for their highest possibilities as individuals and I loathe humanity for its failure to live up to these possibilities.”- Ayn Rand