Dating feels ruined – or at least it feels too exhausting

Every single interaction I have with someone feels exhausting. Lately, it just feels like a game of chess, except instead of millions of possible moves, there is only one right move, or it’s going to fizzle out.

• I’ll match with a girl who matched due to our shared ethnicity, and her opening move on Bumble asks, “What is your dream vacation spot?”. I’ll say something like “My dream spot at the moment is the French Riviera..” and I’ll add on something in a different language (our shared European language). She unmatched.
• I’ll tell a girl on Hinge that “you are just my type”. She’ll ask me something like “why is that?”. I want to be mysterious this time and say “I can’t say”. After I sent that, I was going to add on “But I can tell you over a few drinks :)”. And this girl unmatched me so quickly that I wasn’t even able to send that message out.
• I’ll go out with a girl on two dates. On the 2nd date, we are going to kiss and then post date, both of us are going to say that we had a great time and look forward to other dates. 3 days later, I’ll text her asking about a third date and she’ll ghost. Was it a bad kiss, too much time between texts, or the way I asked her out on the third date? It will remain a mystery because she’ll never be heard from again.
• I’m going to have a nice conversation with someone, and as soon as I ask her out to grab some drinks. Thats it. Game over.
• We were having a conversation about our favorite hikes. She’ll say she is anti one of the hikes I love. I’ll ask her why is she anti that hike. And she will never be heard from again.

I know these are all common occurrences for everyone, but it is getting so ridiculous. I am so incredibly tired of the numbers game and having to play my cards right. Its not even fun anymore because its gotten to the point where I’m just going to overthink every single action I do or thing I say.

I understand that some people are on dating apps for an ego boost, some feel overwhelmed due to the number of matches they get, some are talking to multiple people at once, some have busy lives, and sometimes it’s just a compatibility issue. But how are people expecting to date (or why are they even trying to date in the first place if they are not ready) if this is how they are going to treat it?