How To Outsmart (And Withstand) The Waiting Game

I’m about to turn the calendar page on one month spent as an active member of CatholicMatch. I had few expectations when starting this journey, but I always felt online dating would be different from my conventional dating experiences. The guys, the worries and the games would all be different, I thought.

I presumed that clicking the activate button on my profile would simultaneously open the flood gates to an overabundance of emotigrams, messages and chats from eligible suitors, so I prepared myself for the barrage of communication that I innocently assumed would follow.

Well, I did click “activate,” but the only thing that was overabundant in my first few weeks on CatholicMatch was my naivete. Apparently there’s a waiting game in online dating, and it’s going to take time for a “barrage of communication” to progress. I didn’t think I would have to be patient in the online dating scene, too!

In June fellow CatholicMatch blogger Elizabeth Moriarty blogged about the slow work of God, and now, one month into my CatholicMatch experience, I’m trying to remind myself that some of the best things in life take time to unfold. So now I’m left to the waiting game, something I’m all too familiar with. I’ve waited for phone calls, e-mails and texts, but now I’m entering uncharted territory and waiting for CatholicMatch emotigrams, chats and messages, and, of course, Mr. Right.

Taking a step back and letting anything unfold, especially a possible relationship, can be excruciatingly difficult. When we hit a crossroads, we wonder: Is the other person waiting for me to initiate something? Is he wondering if I’m interested and letting it all play out, like I am doing for him?

Should I just ask him out? Should she wait for him to make a move?

Based on my years of dating experience, I’m going to let you in on my secret on how to withstand the ridiculous, mind-numbing waiting game that countless singles fall victim to:

Sit this one out and don’t play it.

Maybe if we all call a truce on this one, we can just follow our God-given intuition and let Him lead us to the right choices….no games needed.