1. You find so many of the rules arbitrary. Why do you have to wait a couple days after a date before you text them? Why is it considered weird to tell someone you like them before a certain amount of time has passed? Why is it “better” if you play hard to get?

2. Rather than finding most of these dating rules “helpful,” you just find them to be a waste of your time.

3. You don’t mind creepy pick-up lines on online dating apps. They just help you to weed out the duds that much faster.

4. Most of the time, texting is extremely convenient. But when it’s taking you a damn hour to communicate back and forth about when and where you should meet and what you should do, you’d rather just pick up the f*cking phone and sort it out in a matter of two minutes.

5. When you’re frustrated or mad with someone you’re dating, you don’t drop hints. You just straight up tell them. Because what’s the point of sitting on the couch and letting out loud, frustrated noises when you could just turn to them and tell them that you’re pissed?

6. …In your opinion, being this open is a huge time saver. But sometimes when you tell your friends that this is how you handle your issues, they look at you like you’re insane.

7. You’re fine with the fact that sometimes, people just aren’t going to like you back. It might sting, but you’ll get over it. If someone keeps canceling plans or taking forever to get back to you via text or phone call or won’t get off their phone when you’re on a date, you’ll just end it there. Nothing personal, but you’d rather not waste your time or theirs.

8. Sometimes, the world makes you feel like dating should always be extravagant, over-the-top, and ridiculously romantic (fireworks and ballroom dancing on the first date… are you kidding, The Bachelor?) But you have no problem letting someone know when you just want to go have a drink somewhere and get to know them.

9. …You’re well aware of the fact that this puts you in danger of trying to pretend you’re the “cool girl” but you don’t care. Because, alcohol.

10. You have more fun following Instagram accounts like Tinder Nightmares than you do on actual Tinder.

11. Even back in the day, you were so over the AIM chats that went like this:

Hey.
Hey.
Whats ^.
Nm, u?
Nm.
Cool.
Yeah.

All you could ever think was, Get to the point already. 

12. When you really want your significant other to come to something with you, be it a party or a wedding or somebody’s birthday dinner, you’ll make it very clear. At all other times you’re flexible, because you get that this is a two-way street and that you both have a lot going on. You know they’re busy, you know their entire world doesn’t revolve around you. But you also don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting your boyfriend or girlfriend around during special moments.

13. …Some people may call this being bossy. But you know that there’s a difference between being bossy, and simply being someone who has standards and knows how to ask for what they want, without being greedy or ridiculous.
14. You really did find Ginnifer Goodwin’s character in He’s Just Not That Into You to be cringeworthy. But you were more annoyed by Justin Long’s character and all of his dumb dating rules.

15. If someone responds to your text two days later and starts it out with, “Sorry, meant to respond to this,” you’re calling it. Not gonna happen. You’re out.

16. You have a hard time giving your friends advice. Because unless they’re dating someone who is truly a good and genuine person, most of your advice falls along the lines of: Why are you wasting your time?, If you’re putting in effort and they’re not, the answer’s pretty clear, Don’t try to make it work if you have a bad feeling in your gut, etc.

17. Flowers and chocolate and all the other typical romantic gifts are lovely. But nothing thrills you more than a handwritten card or sweet note in which someone’s not afraid to tell you how they feel. To you, honesty and genuine vulnerability are some of the most attractive things in the world.