A woman who had never been kissed or gone on a date until the age of 32 has finally started dating and says she's not embarrassed to be a "late bloomer". Allora Campbell, 32, had spent all of her adulthood without going on a single date after she "lost trust in love" when she experienced unrequited love in her early 20s.
She had expected she would get her 'meet cute' or be pursued by men but it never happened. Instead, she put her energy into her career and travelling and occasionally tried a dating app before promptly deleting it when experiencing "creepy" messages from guys. The self-confessed late bloomer realised nothing would change in her life if she didn’t do something about it - so she set herself a goal of going on dates for a month in January 2023.
Allora says she felt she was "falling behind the expectations of dating in society" but now been on four dates and has been kissed – describing the moment as "sweet".
Allora, a marketer, from Rochester, New York, US, said: "I’m 32 and I had never been kissed or been on a date until last month.
"I presumed that women were meant to be pursued or some sort of meet cute would happen. But that never happened to me.
"I thought there must be something wrong with me. Instead of taking the narrative into my own hands I just put all my energy into my career and travel. I felt like I had wasted 15 years coming to terms with it.
"During the gap between Christmas and New Year I was snuggling my dog and I just thought – 'if you do nothing, nothing will change'.
"I love my life, but I wanted to try dating. My goal was just to get out on dates and feel comfortable enough to do so."
Allora had grown up expecting she would meet someone or would be hit on by guys.
She said: "I was crippled by a gender role. The prince to princess. When it didn’t happen, I did a lot of second guessing. I’d question - 'am I good enough?' I’d download a dating app once a year have bad experiences with creeps and delete it without going on dates."
But Allora finally realised she needed to put herself out there after coming to terms with the idea that nothing would change unless she starting dating.
She said: "I spent so many years worrying about what people would think about me. It was self-sabotage.
“I downloaded the dating apps and decided to try for January. I didn’t really expect anything.
"But I ended up with a connection with a guy and have been on four dates. I was terrified for the first date.
"I sang 'I have confidence' from the Sound of Music for my entire drive. He was so cool about me not being kissed or having been on any dates.
"He’s been really respectful. I had my first kiss, and it was really sweet."
Before this year, hardly anyone knew Allora had never been on a date.
But she took the plunge to share her secret on social media and was shocked by the fellow ‘late bloomers’ reaching out with support.
"I thought I was the only person in the world going through this," she said. "I feels like you're carrying a deep dark secret.
"It made me braver saying it out loud. I could always deflect any dating questions, so no one ever really knew before. It’s not something I’m embarrassed about anymore."
Now Allora wants others to know it’s never too late to join the dating game.
She said: "There’s no timeline. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. There is nothing wrong with coming to dating or romance at a later stage."
Do you have a story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
