Member-only story
How I Used Tinder to Practice Believing in Myself
On dating apps, no one has to know you have imposter syndrome
“So what do you do?” is one of the first things people tend to ask on dating apps. After all, our work tends to take up a great deal of our life, and many of us hope to have careers that make us feel happy and fulfilled, or at least that don’t suck our souls out.
After months of saying, “I’m in marketing” and “I’m a content manager,” I realized nothing was stopping me from talking about my writing instead of my day job.
“I’m an author and a motivational speaker. I teach people how to overcome trauma.”
Oh, that feels good. That feels really good.
You see, my matches on dating apps don’t know that I’m “just getting started” in my writing career. They don’t know that I sometimes doubt my talents and abilities. They don’t know that I’m scared to be vulnerable and invite criticism from the world.
They see a confident author who is working on amazing projects that are going to change the world — because that’s what I say about myself in my profile.
After two weeks of introducing myself as an author and speaker to my Tinder matches, something incredible happened — I started thinking of myself that way every day.
