If you’re a single man or woman over 50 entering the world of mature dating, there’s a good chance you haven’t dated since you were in your twenties. Don’t worry. Finding true love can happen to anyone, at any age.
Here are seven ways that finding love in old age is better than it ever could be as a youngster. It could be enough to make a single millennial wish they were a boomer.
1 – Mature dating is more authentic.
To find a real, authentic love, you first must know and love yourself well. As we reach 50 and beyond, most of us can say we’ve learned a lot about ourselves along the way. Life changes us and it’s easier to be exactly who we’re supposed to be.
While we were dating in our twenties, we dealt with the awkwardness of a growing body, mind, and spirit. Nothing, it seemed, was easy or graceful.
During those formative years we defined ourselves by fitting into how we believed others thought we should be. We looked outside ourselves for acceptance and definition.
Happily, life is a good teacher. If we’re open to it, we’ve learned to strip away the masks and simply be ourselves. That makes finding love in old age so much easier.
However, along the way you might have been through a divorce or lost your partner to death. Major events like this can make it hard to escape the roles you played for many years. You cling to them for comfort in a time of change.
To find a true, loving partner requires that you present yourself accurately to others. It’s essential to strip away that which doesn’t reflect who you truly are or worse, that which buries your true personality.
Depending on your previous relationships, you might be comfortable with co-dependent behaviors that mask your authentic self which in turn, sabotages your future relationships. If so, you must learn how to love yourself again. This is best done with the aid of a professional counselor or therapist. Such introspective work pays dividends far in excess of the effort involved. It’s the only way to attract the right person for you.
2 – We’re more experienced now.
If we’re dating after fifty or sixty, it’s likely we’ve had one or more partnerships or marriages. Sometimes we’re hopeful of finding true love after divorce. This means that by now, we should have a pretty good idea of what we want and don’t want in our potential partner.
If we were smart about our personal development when we were younger, we learned how to navigate relationship problems to be a better partner. We don’t have to fumble through the learning curve again.
Although we never stop learning because life never stops teaching, as a mature dater, we get to lean on all those years of experience. We’re usually comfortable in all kinds of situations which means we can comfortably meet and date new people.
3 – Our agendas are different now.
As we ease into mature dating, our agendas are different than in our younger years. It’s likely we’re under less financial pressure if we’re retired. The US Census Bureau says the median income for people 55-64 years is $65,239 and for those 65 and older, it’s $39,823.
We have children and grandchildren. We’re not under the gun to settle down, get married, have children, or find a career.
Instead, we’d rather focus less on work and more on enjoying life. When we decide to start dating, we plan to make the most of it.
4 – It’s now easier to be honest with others and ourselves.
We don’t care so much what others think of us. We’re comfortable with who we are and that makes it easy to be honest. We’re not afraid to be who we are because we have faith that somehow, some way, we’ll get connected with our ideal partner.
When we’re honest, it makes us more attractive to our fellow mature daters. An article on Hello! refers to a Saga Dating poll in which
“…76 per cent of those in the older category [50+] believe certain things such as looks and money become less important when looking for a new partner. And while both generations consider a good sense of humor to be important, the over 50s place more significance on honesty with eight in ten looking for this in a partner compared to just 66 per cent of twenty somethings.”
5 – We have more of a sense of freedom.
When I first considered online dating, I had already decided that if I remained single for the rest of my life, I’d still be perfectly happy. Sure, I felt it would be nice to find a woman with whom to share those years, but I was OK if I didn’t. I wasn’t attached to the outcome.
It took me years to learn to detach from expected outcomes, but it gave me a serenity and sense of freedom I never had when young. The fact is that I will lose things I have, and I won’t get all the things I want.
But I’ve also learned that the unexpected outcomes quite often surpass anything that I could have imagined. One of those unexpected outcomes arrived in the form of my own true love and partner, Daisy.
6 – It’s more fun to date later in life.
All of the characteristics I mention above make mature dating more fun.
Society (for the most part) accepts a wide range of relationships that cross cultural, racial, age, and religious lines.
Women and men over 60 have plenty of stories to tell and share that we didn’t have as youngsters. Stories are fun to share, whether it’s on a first date or with your new-found partner.
This article has examples of the amazing stories people have later in life.
When we go on a fun date in which there’s probably not a chance for a relationship, we don’t take it as a failure. It’s fun. We get to meet a new person and see a unique perspective on life and the world. There’s a richness in meeting new people and having fun with them. Healthy fun can be an end unto itself.
There are lots of enjoyable opportunities, as we talk about in this article about how to meet like-minded singles in local social groups.
7 – Older women and men are more emotionally mature.
Maybe you could sum all this up in one word—maturity. We are, after all, talking about mature dating. But a life is impossible to sum up or label so easily.
At this point in our lives, every one of us can say we’ve been through a few emotional wringers. If we learned nothing else, we learned to not let our emotions rule our behavior and decisions like we did when we were young. After all, emotions are powerful but fleeting.
With maturity we get the sense to pause and reflect about emotions before acting. It makes for a peaceful life. It makes you a better date and a potentially better ideal partner.
As author Robert Fulghum said,
“We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness — and call it love — true love.”
You can read more here about how to recognize immaturity in your dating partners.
Having Problems Finding True Love?
“Will I find true love?” Lots of people ask this of themselves every day.
If you’ve had failed marriages or relationships, or if you’re a mature dater whose fed up with dating, don’t worry, there is hope. Your chances of finding true love later in life are good if you simply take the time to work on yourself.
Personal self-development is a rewarding process—at any stage in life.
In Over 60 and Fed Up with Dating we talk about a roadmap to help you find your true love faster.
And be sure to get your FREE ebook, The Secret to Mature Dating Success.
Happy Dating!
Finding true love is very extremely difficult for many of us single men today since most women are very completely different today from the old days unfortunately. Most women now are very independent, and don’t really care to have a man in their life anymore. And now that so many women have their very high unrealistic expectations and having their standards very high as well, which makes it more difficult for many of us men very seriously looking for love. Funny how very different most women were back in the old days when they were very old fashioned, and very much real ladies as well making love much easier to find back in those days. No wonder why our family members very much lucked out in the old days when they met one another with no trouble at all either. Sure they did, most women back then were real easy to meet with so much better manners as well at that time. Today the great majority of women are very nasty to many of us men for no reason at all when we will try to start a conversation with a woman that we think would be very nice to meet.
Sorry to hear you’re having a tough time on the dating scene.
If you haven’t already done so, try online dating. The women who you’ll find there ARE looking for dates and relationships. It’s a safe place for both men and women to reach out to each other. With a little persistence, you’ll find the right, compatible partner.
And be sure to check out the articles here on our blog as well as the dating ebooks on our Shop page:
Thanks for reading, Mike!
Thank you very much for your support.
I totally agree. I have never been married, and know I can be happy, no matter what the outcome or circumstances. I have had many friendships and relationships, but can’t seem to find anyone I would like to spend the rest of my life with. I currently don’t have friends at the moment, either, and am hesitant about meeting new people. Any “friends” I may have, are truly acquaintances, who I really have no desire to spend time with.
Kristopher, thanks for sharing a little of your story. All that matters is being content with your life, whether or not someone else is there with you.
I also am sorry you are having such a hard time in the dating world, as an over 60 female I assure you it is not easy either. Most of the older gentlemen are looking for younger women, it seems. I turned to online dating and had a wonderful experience finding a gentleman my age and we hit it off and every day is a little more beautiful than the last. Good luck and please do not give up.
It is true, it is very difficult to find a real love, whether for a woman or a gentleman man and who respects a woman, that goes for both people, women or men, I believe that respect, honesty, love, understanding, humility is important. , admiration, communication and having some things in common, life is short and if I’m going to live like two teenagers and live life to the full I could fall in love, it doesn’t matter if it’s much older than me
Thank you for commenting, Yulissa. True love can come in many different forms. That special someone may not be at all what you thought you wanted and, like you said, they could be much older than you.
you are right, when a person is older they think of living with their partner in peace, harmony, understanding, love for each other.
It would be very nice to be in a relationship, instead of being single and alone all the time which can be very unhealthy and very depressing too. Everyone needs to be loved, but the most difficult part of all is meeting that special someone. It hurts me very much as a single man that really was hoping to meet the right woman to spend my life with, since many others that have found love were just so very lucky and blessed when they met their loved ones.
Mike, so true. Do not give up. There truly are so many great women out there who are beautiful inside and out, lovely and smart too. Again, don’t give up!
The very hard part is meeting the right good woman though for many of us single guys.
Married but alone for more years than I care to remember I dream of finding an actual love before I leave this earth. Sappy, hand holding, making each other laugh kind of love. 6 months from now I’ll but out of this marriage finally but can only hope for one actual love. Even if it never happens at 60 I’ll have finally escaped and be in peace
Thanks for commenting, Joyce. So sorry to hear you’re so unhappy right now, but glad to hear you have a plan to get out of the marriage. Don’t give up hope of finding someone. In my opinion, 60 is relatively young. I found true love in my early 60’s with Cosmo, also after a bad marriage. But I suggest that, once you leave your marriage, you should take a year or so to just live alone and get to know yourself, before you start dating. I spent several years after my marriage getting myself together, before I seriously dated. I hope everything works out for you!
I’m looking for that special lady that I can be friends with first I believe you must have your friends first I’ll always be a kid at heart but I put away my childish ways
Good for you, William. With that approach, you’re probably much more likely to end up with a lasting, happy relationship.
My cousin just celebrated his 50th year being married to the same woman since it was really meant to be for them. Funny how God curses many of us guys to be single and alone all the time unfortunately, especially when many of us really never wanted to be single in the first place. Go figure.