Will I ever be loved?

I am a 24 year old woman. I have never been in a relationship, never had someone express interest in me, nor have I taken the time or effort to see another in a romantic way.

Recently I have become conscious of the void in me that a partner could fill. I have become so hypersensitive of something I paid no heed to previously. When I go out with friends or watch TV and I see a couple acting tender towards one another it fills me with sadness and I get tearful. It reminds me of how painfully unlovable I feel. In part its due to low self esteem having plagued me my whole life. I have also never put myself out there, in lieu of sacrificing my social life for my education. In other ways its the offhand comments made towards me; a particular family member made it known that if I get married off "It won't be for my looks". I feel unattractive and its been validated by someone close.

I want to talk about this to someone. I have a good support system of friends. But the majority of them are in the talking stage, have some experience of being in relationships, or are already in one. Two of my friends this year alone have gotten married. I also don't want to share my deepest vulnerabilities in anticipation of being viewed as the oversharer and embarrassing myself, so I tend to steer away from these topics.

I fear wasting my life, not finding someone to share my time with. I have a lot of love to give, but I don't know if there's anyone to give it to. I feel hopeless, I long for the stability of something I have never had. I resent my other single friends for having faith in finding their own soulmate, those who say "it will happen when it happens". I wish I believed like them.

I don't know why I am writing here. I suppose its the comfort of finding someone else who shares a piece of your emotions. I don't want to end up in an echo chamber lamenting on not being able to find love, but I don't want to feel alone and bitter as these feelings continue to swamp me.

Whether you think you can or you can't... you're probably right (Henry Ford (circa 1920))

I am a 24 year old woman. I have never been in a relationship, never had someone express interest in me, nor have I taken the time or effort to see another in a romantic way.

Recently I have become conscious of the void in me that a partner could fill. I have become so hypersensitive of something I paid no heed to previously. When I go out with friends or watch TV and I see a couple acting tender towards one another it fills me with sadness and I get tearful. It reminds me of how painfully unlovable I feel. In part its due to low self esteem having plagued me my whole life. I have also never put myself out there, in lieu of sacrificing my social life for my education. In other ways its the offhand comments made towards me; a particular family member made it known that if I get married off "It won't be for my looks". I feel unattractive and its been validated by someone close.

I want to talk about this to someone. I have a good support system of friends. But the majority of them are in the talking stage, have some experience of being in relationships, or are already in one. Two of my friends this year alone have gotten married. I also don't want to share my deepest vulnerabilities in anticipation of being viewed as the oversharer and embarrassing myself, so I tend to steer away from these topics.

I fear wasting my life, not finding someone to share my time with. I have a lot of love to give, but I don't know if there's anyone to give it to. I feel hopeless, I long for the stability of something I have never had. I resent my other single friends for having faith in finding their own soulmate, those who say "it will happen when it happens". I wish I believed like them.

I don't know why I am writing here. I suppose its the comfort of finding someone else who shares a piece of your emotions. I don't want to end up in an echo chamber lamenting on not being able to find love, but I don't want to feel alone and bitter as these feelings continue to swamp me.

I am a 24 year old woman. I have never been in a relationship, never had someone express interest in me, nor have I taken the time or effort to see another in a romantic way.

Recently I have become conscious of the void in me that a partner could fill. I have become so hypersensitive of something I paid no heed to previously. When I go out with friends or watch TV and I see a couple acting tender towards one another it fills me with sadness and I get tearful. It reminds me of how painfully unlovable I feel. In part its due to low self esteem having plagued me my whole life. I have also never put myself out there, in lieu of sacrificing my social life for my education. In other ways its the offhand comments made towards me; a particular family member made it known that if I get married off "It won't be for my looks". I feel unattractive and its been validated by someone close.

I want to talk about this to someone. I have a good support system of friends. But the majority of them are in the talking stage, have some experience of being in relationships, or are already in one. Two of my friends this year alone have gotten married. I also don't want to share my deepest vulnerabilities in anticipation of being viewed as the oversharer and embarrassing myself, so I tend to steer away from these topics.

I fear wasting my life, not finding someone to share my time with. I have a lot of love to give, but I don't know if there's anyone to give it to. I feel hopeless, I long for the stability of something I have never had. I resent my other single friends for having faith in finding their own soulmate, those who say "it will happen when it happens". I wish I believed like them.

I don't know why I am writing here. I suppose its the comfort of finding someone else who shares a piece of your emotions. I don't want to end up in an echo chamber lamenting on not being able to find love, but I don't want to feel alone and bitter as these feelings continue to swamp me.

I am a 24 year old woman. I have never been in a relationship, never had someone express interest in me, nor have I taken the time or effort to see another in a romantic way.

Recently I have become conscious of the void in me that a partner could fill. I have become so hypersensitive of something I paid no heed to previously. When I go out with friends or watch TV and I see a couple acting tender towards one another it fills me with sadness and I get tearful. It reminds me of how painfully unlovable I feel. In part its due to low self esteem having plagued me my whole life. I have also never put myself out there, in lieu of sacrificing my social life for my education. In other ways its the offhand comments made towards me; a particular family member made it known that if I get married off "It won't be for my looks". I feel unattractive and its been validated by someone close.

I want to talk about this to someone. I have a good support system of friends. But the majority of them are in the talking stage, have some experience of being in relationships, or are already in one. Two of my friends this year alone have gotten married. I also don't want to share my deepest vulnerabilities in anticipation of being viewed as the oversharer and embarrassing myself, so I tend to steer away from these topics.

I fear wasting my life, not finding someone to share my time with. I have a lot of love to give, but I don't know if there's anyone to give it to. I feel hopeless, I long for the stability of something I have never had. I resent my other single friends for having faith in finding their own soulmate, those who say "it will happen when it happens". I wish I believed like them.

I don't know why I am writing here. I suppose its the comfort of finding someone else who shares a piece of your emotions. I don't want to end up in an echo chamber lamenting on not being able to find love, but I don't want to feel alone and bitter as these feelings continue to swamp me.

With threads like this, they often descend into the OP or someone else not really wanting to work on the issue at hand, rather complain about it and make sure that it never changes. If you want to avoid this, ask yourself this... What do you want to achieve? Not just out of this thread although that is certainly valid, but out of the situation in its entirety. Based on your first post I assume you have some sort of problem with your looks. Try to think about it critically - are the problems that you see something that you make yourself think are more serious things than they actually are, or are they things that a random passer-by would notice immediately? If it is the latter, you can do something about it. For example, my eyebrows naturally grow together. To avoid having a monobrow, which would be noticeable, I shave the bit in the centre. Even though there are still short hairs there, it's now very hard to notice - problem solved. We're always critical about ourselves, and to a greater extent than other people. Obviously some issues will be easier to fix than others, and some don't really need fixing, but making some sort of effort is always a great first step.

But when it comes to the relationships themselves, do you actively want a relationship? I'm single myself, and I do want a relationship, but there is a difference between wanting a relationship, and just wanting a relationship. I appreciate that's a terrible way of describing it so let me elaborate on it. Some people are attracted to the idea of being in a relationship. Others are looking for certain things in a relationship. Some may want to finally be able to say to themselves and others "I have a boyfriend/girlfriend." Others need a bit more than that. So many times there are people who will settle for anyone and anything just to be able to have a relationship, even if that relationship just isn't really worth having. Please, don't be that sort of person. The worst possible person to date is someone who doesn't care about the person they're with, just the idea of being with someone.