Go to Google News
These first two articles came to my attention today so I went to Google News and was quite surprised by the number of articles. It’s feeling very mainstream to me now. I guess enough has been said!
Internet Matchmaker
I am enjoying watching one of my closest friends have her first experience of using online dating websites. It is an exciting time and full of promise. I recommended this to her because I have found it to be the best and most enjoyable way to find a partner. It has a bit of cringe factor for some people still. I guess if you have not wanted to meet a partner in the last 10+ years, you would have no need, therefore see fit to criticise it or find it ‘wierd’. The other people who are not into it are people who will never read this blog because they haven’t yet learnt to use a computer. Needless to say, they are never gonna do it.
I found it a great way to meet my partner. I loved the time when we were getting to know each other via email. It was sweet and gentle and romantic. The first telephone conversation, our first meeting and so on, was all gradual and made the process delightful and lasting.
Perhaps I was very lucky. I only met one other person I communicated with online, and at that first meeting, knew instantly there was no real attraction. It was challenging to have to say that, but no worse than saying no to someone you have met anywhere.
This leads me to a point I want to make, meeting and relating to someone online is the same as any other way. If you find it difficult to trust, it will be the same in real life as it is online. If you are desperate, gullible, if you fantasize, if you are afraid of commitment, intimacy, success, whatever, the internet will not magically transform or hide that. If you are going to have problems in relationships, they will still be there. It is just a convenient way to meet, minus the scene you don’t want to be in(insert club,pub,mother’s/friends blind date whatever applies) but for wanting to find a partner.
This weekend another friend I recommended online dating to, is getting married. She is 60ish and hadn’t had someone special in her life for the 5+ years I had known her. She is very happy. This is why I recommend it and enjoy sharing my positive experience with others. It’s great to see people happy and in love.
Five Years In One Job
I just realised this morning I have been a teacher for five years this July. I am not beginning anymore. This is the longest time I have been in a job. I have had a couple of different roles in the five years to make the challenges vary, but essentially it has been one job.
I love teaching though because there is always change and variety as well as different kinds of challenges. There is freedom for creativity and problem solving, which are essentials to me in the work I like to do. I would have to say that the thing that I feel has always been important in every job I have had and is crucial in teaching is being able to build positive relationships and interact with others.
There has been changes in staff, but I have had relationships with other teachers for that time also. It feels like a family really and a large one! You learn how to work with one another and can rely on the strengths of them as well as learn tolerance for the weaknesses.
I am glad I took this path. It hasn’t always been easy, but has usually been enjoyable and rewarding.