I’m feeling so down since my online match ghosted me

DEAR DEIDRE: AFTER years of being single and lonely, I was over the moon when I finally connected with a man online. 

Our conversations flowed effortlessly, and I was so excited to meet up with him, but now he takes ages to reply to me and I’m feeling beside myself.

I’m 42, he’s 45, and we matched on Plenty of Fish. We hit it off straight away and quickly started texting daily. 

Every day I’d be on the edge of my seat waiting for his replies, and I’d be lying if I said my feelings weren’t developing. 

I couldn’t help myself from getting excited as he told me about all the dates he wanted to take me on, and I was counting down the days until we met. 

Then last week his replies got slower and slower until he eventually messaged to cancel our dinner plans and ghosted me. 

Now I’m feeling so disappointed and down. I keep rereading our conversations over and over again to find out what went wrong, and it’s eating away at me. 

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DEIDRE SAYS: It’s normal to get your hopes up and start imagining all the possibilities when you like someone, so it’s understandable you’re feeling disappointed.

As painful as it may be, instead of trying to find a reason as to why things changed, instead try to focus on what his behaviour says about him.

If he doesn’t have the emotional maturity or grace to explain himself to you, then he’s shown what type of partner he would have been. 

My support pack Love Online will help you navigate things going forward.