Divorced Over 50 and Not Dating? That’s Okay

If you’ve been Divorced Over 50 for awhile (whatever your definition of “awhile” might be), do you feel a pressure to start dating? Whether it’s coming from yourself, or friends, or family, are you hearing words like, “Hey, don’t you think it’s time to get back out there?”

The major theme of Divorced Over 50 is, No matter how you came to be DO50, this is your chance to hit the Reset button and move forward into a happy, fulfilling, and exciting life.

But there’s absolutely no requirement that that new life must involve a new relationship. And no requirement to “get back out there.” For some people, staying single is exactly the way they want to go.

Last month, I wrote a piece on the differences between what men worried about when they were dating in their teens (“Will she laugh at my peach fuzz?”) compared to their concerns when dating Over 50 (“Will she laugh at my back hair?”). You can read the other 24 here.

When it comes to overall changes in the world of dating between then and now, the very best improvement has to be online dating. Truly, it’s an historic innovation that ranks up there with the cotton gin, penicillin, and those lights in the parking garages that show you which spaces are empty.

Online dating just makes everything so simple.

Does it bother you when younger people express disgust at the very notion of people Over 50 having sex?

Deborah Copaken is a best-selling author whose work has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and other leading publications. Writing for The Mid, she addresses dating at our age, answering the questions she hears so often from her married friends. Topics include how she finds dates, what she does on the dates, and, of course, sex.

Beyond the nuts-and-bolts, though, she expresses her philosophy about relations, love, and marriage with tremendous clarity, maturity, and honesty. This piece is not only perfect for our Di-Curious (Divorce Curious) users, it’s extremely valuable to any single person Over 50. In fact, in the long and illustrious life of Divorced Over 50 (two and a half weeks!), Deborah’s piece is the first to be declared a Must Read.

We all know the cliche about married couples almost never having sex. And many of us not only know it — we actually lived it in our marriages. Does the term “Roommates who raise children” resonate with anyone out there?

What about now as a Divorced Over 50? Is your sex life living up to your expectations?

If you’d like to be having more sex, with more partners, here’s a piece from High 50, a website in the United Kingdom, with ten suggestions for getting more action. As they say across the pond, Tallyho!

The blog “A Sexy Woman of a Certain Age” is run by Erica, a woman in her fifties, who created the site “to ignite a conversation about the sexual power of boomer women.”

This particular post is an interview with boudoir photographer Lori Berkowitz about why she prefers shooting women over 50. There are photos included; depending on where you happen to W, the shots may be NSF.

And ladies, when you are in a non-work situation, be sure to check out the entire blog. Erica has provided a wealth of interesting and valuable information. (Guys, no need to tell you to check it out — you’re probably clicking the link at this very moment…)

From Health.com, 8 Reasons Sex is Better After 50. What, they couldn’t come up with 10 reasons? Who ever heard of a “Top 8” List?

Come on, let’s see if we can round out this list. We just need two more. Use the Comments section below to add your suggestion.

From the Ann Brenhoff of the Huffington Post, 25 Dating Turn Offs that come up when you’re Over 50. Can’t say any of these ever happened to me, and am proud to say I never committed any of these faux pas, either. (I actually checked, and the plural of “faux pas” is spelled the same as the singular. If you were saying it, though, singular is pronounced foh-PAH, while the plural is pronounced foh-PAHZ — see all the great info you get on this site?)

Regardless, it’s a cute, short piece, so check it out. Have you committed one of these? Or had one happen to you? Please discuss in the Comments on the next page by clicking Read More…