Is there a point at which it's better to withdraw from hoping for marriage and just focus on a plan B?
Full disclosure, this post might sound a little crazy, because I'm still in my early 20s, so I'm apologizing in advance...
I always kinda thought I'd meet someone in college. At least, that's what my mom told me would happen. A lot of my life choices have been made around that (incorrect) assumption. For example, I decided not to major in pre-med because I didn't want the pressure of spending 10 years of schooling to keep me from investing in a potential future spouse/children.
Anyways, I didn't meet anyone in college, which was probably largely my fault. I really don't have a great understanding of how friendships with guys work because I was homeschooled and don't have any male relatives close to my age. After college (3 years ago), I decided to try online dating and went with a lot people once and a couple people twice...standard online dating stuff, I guess, but nothing really panned out there for a variety of reasons.
The last guy that I went out with and I got along really well personality-wise and were pretty spiritually aligned on the surface. We ended up mutually breaking things off, though, for some deeper spiritual and philosophical differences and are on good terms but just aware that we couldn't make things work.
The variety of people that I've seen in conjuction with my last dating experience just kinda makes me wonder, though. There's SO MUCH stuff that you have to make sure is compatible before you spend your life with someone. How do you make sure you've addressed everything that's important before you accidentally forget something super important?
And for the question that's the title of my post...after that last situation, I decided to take some time to work on myself more as an individual. I've been trying to devote more time to improving myself spiritually, getting invovled with my community, and spending time in productive pursuits. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily happy being single, but I'm not unhappy about it either, which makes no sense, I realize.
At the same time, even though I feel like the obstacles are kinda insurmountable, I still feel like somewhere deep down, I still want to find a godly guy to do life with and have a family with. It feels weird to say it, but I've always known that I'm gonna either stay single and have no kids or get married and have a bunch of them, and I can see myself in the future with loads of kids and grandkids.
I just don't know whether I should start looking again/re-sign up for different online dating platforms or just chill for now and keep working on other things, like planning for the alternative possibility of being single for an extended period of time. If I were to get back into the possible dating world, what (besides being godly, of course, which is a tall enough order) should I be looking for? Are people just lowering their standards to find spouses, or are there still legitimately good Christian guys out there?
All advice/insight is welcome. Thank you in advance!
Posted Feb 23, 2026, 5:56 AM UTC