37M here and I can’t believe I’m still going through this. Not looking for dating advice or anything, I kind of just want to vent.
I had my fair share of crushes on coworkers and acquaintances when I was in my teens and early 20s, and I really thought I was done with it. So I thought nothing of the new woman at the office this year…until the last few months when we started chatting more. Now I’ve got it bad. Like lying in bed at night unable to sleep thinking about her bad. I’m writing poetry about her for goodness sake. This is ridiculous.
I’m near certain nothing is going to come of it. I’ve made some advances but it just doesn’t seem like she has romantic interest, and there are a lot of factors that are making me hesitant to pursue further (office dynamics, age gap, and my poor history of reading these situations).
At 18 I’d be bawling my eyes out thinking this is my one shot at true love. Now of course I have enough experience to recognize it for what it is – an infatuation with an attractive woman who I’ve spent a lot of time with this year. There’s no love, I still barely know her. She’s not showing interest, I should just drop it and move on. Despite all this rational thought I still am overwhelmed by my feelings, and it’s more frustrating than I ever thought it would be at this age.
Do you guys still deal with this? How do you get beyond the nonsense when you know it’s just a crush and nothing more?
EDIT: Thanks for the responses everyone! It’s comforting to know I’m not the only one who still experiences this.