For many who spent the last couple of years battling loneliness, the third year of the pandemic comes with a renewed quest for love and companionship.
If you enjoy exercise and the outdoors, are friendly, sociable and vaccinated, Rose wants to meet you.
“I’m not sure what all this is going to result in, but you don’t know unless you try,” the Saskatoon resident told CTV News.
She’s ready to search for love again after a terrible car crash three and a half years ago claimed the life of her husband. Her recovery from her own injuries and grief coincided with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I had lost my soulmate,” she said. “So not only did I lose my husband, but then all of a sudden, COVID hits. So that really magnified my loneliness.”
The pandemic emphasized to her that she needed a purpose and someone to join her on that path. But it hasn’t been easy getting back out there.
“Isolation deters people from meeting one another,” she said.
After two years of isolation and social distancing, singles are emerging in this third year of the pandemic with a sense of clarity.
Many are engaging in “intentional dating” over casual connections. After years of fear and uncertainty, it seems commitment is key.
Carolyn Klassen, a relationship therapist, told CTV News that during the portions of the pandemic when Canadians were encouraged to remain indoors as much as possible, “some singles were utterly, achingly alone.”
But she added that this time allowed people to do some reflecting and notice their values and what’s important to them.
“I see this renewed energy to pursue relationships, and not just surface acquaintances, but to actually develop relationships with people we know that will be with us during future times of adversity,” Klassen said.
“We are wired for connection. We need each other.”
It can also be lonely to be in a relationship where the goals are very different, or the connection feels lacking, she said, so she is seeing people increasingly searching for long-term relationships.
“Rightly or wrongly, we’re in a coupled up world, so often singles feel really alone,” she said.
A November survey from online dating service Match.com echoed this search for the long term, with 62 per cent of respondents wanting more meaningful, committed relationships. Only 11 per cent said they would rather date casually.
Jenna, who lives in Regina, Sask., has been online dating for 15 years. She says COVID-19 made her realize that fleeting connections weren’t what she was looking for.
“During the pandemic, I personally kinda hit a point where I was like, I don’t want to play around anymore,” Jenna said. “I wanted to look for something real, and I kinda made a decision that I wanted to do it in a different way.”
And Winnipeg matchmaker Lianne Tregobov is busier than ever.
“Today my phone has not stopped ringing,” she said, adding that as restrictions ease, more people are willing to meet in person again.
“But people are still cautious. They don’t want to let strangers into their bubble unless they have a history — what have they been doing for the last week, where have they gone, are they vaccinated?” she pointed out.
COVID-19 has changed perspectives and priorities. Still, it seems more singles want to navigate this pandemic as a pair.
