What do you believe is the most challenging part of dating or seeking a relationship?

The Daily Campus conducts an annual survey of the UConn student population about relationships and love on campus. This is what students had to say to the question: what do you think is the most challenging part of dating?

• Trying to find someone who checks off all of the boxes.
• You run into so many people who are not honest about what they want
• Being open about past experiences
• Choosing love over pleasure
• Finding people with similar interests and values to you and THEN also pulling them
• Allowing myself to be vulnerable
• Getting to know someone initially
• Balancing spending time together with schoolwork, spending time with friends, and life
• Believing hes not having sex with other people✨
• learning to be with another person
• The time commitment, meeting emotional needs of the partner
• learning how to regulate your emotions independently of your partner
• communication when one is angry
• Finding someone who’ll make time for you
• keeping up with your emotions
• For seeking a relationship — figuring out if you actually like the person or if you like attention. For dating– getting rid of bad habits taught to you by toxic parents so you don’t affect your partner
• Communication – everyone has invisible needs that can change on a daily basis. You can’t read minds, but the challenge is not being overbearing.
• Understanding how everyone loves different.
• sticking it out to see if it’s worth it
• Communication and both people bringing equal expectations and standards
• modern hook up culture
• Finding people who want the same things as you, and exposing feelings for someone in the first place
• I feel like I’m at a point where I’m not comfortable with my feelings enough to share them with a person I’m interested in so there’s a bit of self sabotage before the relationship even starts.
• The talking phase
• the fact that a lot of people don’t want anything serious or don’t want commitment whereas I do.
• Finding someone who’s single and interested
• Finding someone that is emotionally stable
• Finding someone that I don’t hate that also doesn’t hate me!
• Funds
• mediocre men and women not thinking i’m interested in them 🤠
• Never being fully known
• Being trustworthy and honest or finding someone who is.
• Trying to understand what the person you’re dating is thinking!
• Finding someone that works with your personality, morals, and stage in life. Or trying not to romanticize who they are in your head.
• Communicating your feelings cause sometimes that shit doesn’t make sense to you either
• Dating apps, you can’t really tell anything about a person through pictures and a 3 word bio. Also, a lot of men have no clue how to make a decent dating profile which makes the previous problem even worse.
• actually seeking a relationship, everyone seems so uninterested
• Being a lesbian at UConn is not easy when trying to find a partner because there isn’t a big LGBTQ/Queer community
• Trying not to ruin friendships and not being anxious
• I feel like the hardest part of dating comes after they honeymoon phase. The puppy love starts to fade and you have to decide whether you are going to make a commitment to this person and make the active effort to work through whatever problems come your way. You need to decide whether or not you’re going to accept all their perfect imperfections and little habits that annoy you. It can be hard, but it’s so worth it in the end.
• I think the hardest part of seeking a relationship is trying to figure out the feelings of someone you have a crush on. Not knowing if someone you like feels the same way back can make interactions awkward if you are nervous to confess your feelings.
• Finding someone interesting
• finding similar mindset and dating goals
• Finding someone that is on the same (romantic, life, etc) page as you
• Being vulnerable
• Making sure the significant other is okay and that they feel loved and supported if they aren’t the type to usually talk about this kind of stuff.
• Finding someone who you can really connect with on all levels.
• In a queer relationship, the hardest part for me has been navigating the social norms and fears that go along with being openly part of the LGBT+ community.
• Finding someone who wants the same thing as you
• Wondering if the person is “the one” even if you enjoy being with them a lot.
• Meeting people, and having the confidence to show your best self
• Getting over anxiety and talking to someone
• The most challenging part is finding and meeting people in the first place who you would have an attraction and connection to. It can also be challenging to figure out whether the person you’re interested in has an applicable sexual orientation to you.
• finding people that aren’t boring. like honestly if i get asked what my favorite color is or tHe WaY i LiKe My EgGs In ThE mOrNiNg one more time i’m gonna shriek.
• On this campus, there is not a large queer population, and those that are queer are often in the closet, in a relationship, or are not open to dating trans men.
• Dating as a young person makes it hard and confusing to know what you really want.
• Expectations for sex — I’m ace and sex repulsed, I don’t want to do that sort of thing.
• Getting out of your comfort zone and talking to people
• Finding people interested in a relationship and broaching the subject of going out
• Clarity – it is rare to find someone who is upfront about their feelings and doesn’t keep you guessing about whether or not they’re actually interested.
• today’s casual dating culture
• finding someone w the same values and outlook on life, and the uncomfortable conversations that need to happen when things go wrong or any bump in road of the relationship.
• Finding the right person! Jeez… maybe I have too high standards.
• Not rushing things and taking the days as they come
• Trusting the other partner.
• i get so busy with school i can’t find time to meet someone or hang out
• Finding guys that actually want a relationship