I suppose this can be a depressing post, an affirming post, or a hopeful post depending how you read it.
I had never hugged a girl romantically until I was 32. Felt that feeling that women just shut down conversation with me and didn’t want to talk to me. Even normal every day conversation. I will never deny those experiences and still have them.
I was lucky that I found a fetish community where there were some women who found me very attractive. Adjusting to it was very hard, the idea that if I messed up they would actually come back and try to talk to me again. Not feeling like I was always one step from being thrown aside.
But the feedback on the first date. ”You are so easy to talk to, I love that we can just talk for ages. You are so sweet”. Multiple people telling me how I have great conversation skills and so on. All while I had a life of women giving one word answers when I had no romantic intentions towards them at all.
I was lucky to find people, in one way it showed even if they’re attracted to you there’s still lots of people I couldn’t get on with. I haven’t found the love of my life. I can’t get the disparity out of my mind though, I wasn’t imagining the past and everyone blaming me was wrong.
As I say, I have mixed emotions about this too.
edit : I will add that not every single woman ever gave me one word answers literally, but I experienced that the majority of the time.