u/Lost_Wanderer_013

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all are doing well!

This was my first time attending Tomorrowland Belgium. And I had an absolutely great time.

I had actually come with a group (one of the TML Trip operators), but somehow realized that personally I had a great time when I was attending the sets individually than with my group.

For me it was more about the music, the artists, and being fully immersed in their set. So I had already planned my sets in such a way that I stayed on one stage at least for 3-4 hours. Rather than trying to see all the stages, I just saw main stage, crystal garden and the great library.

While when I was with the group for a couple of sets, it happens that people are chit chatting, then after one set trying to move to a different stage. So I just told them that hey you guys carry on I'll continue on the same stage.

The best sets I really liked were Illenium, Alok, Steve Angello, Hardwell, Armin Van Buurren, Dimitri Vegas, Lost Frequencies, and Henry PFR.

After the day end, just peacefully went to the tent without any further chit chat with anyone and went to sleep. Fortunately the neighbors were also pretty quiet so faced no problem even in MG. Also, the people were really helpful and friendly overall that made the experience quite pleasant.

Reading the posts as most people make good friends here, I found that I didn't make any friends but had few pleasant conversations and just the experience and vibe was quite good. I'm very introverted and usually get peopled out easily but TML has space for everyone to have a great time.

Hi Everyone,

I'm sharing an incident that probably had an unexpectedly more impact on me than I could've imagined. It's a long post so please bear with me.

A little context: I have been a free bird by choice. Have been content on my own throughout my 20s. Have had quite a few experiences solo and life has been pretty peaceful and satisfactory.

Now a few weeks back, I had connected with someone on reddit (had a different account back then). Conversation had initially started around solo experiences and then it naturally evolved and we touched upon different topics, life experiences, perspectives etc. Although it was a normally engaging conversation, but the feeling of being understood or in sync was a bit different. I mean I have had chats with other women as well on reddit for weeks but it was always fun/surface level and never had a similar depth. So as the conversation progressed for a week, I gathered courage to ask her out as she happened to be from the same city.

She fortunately agreed. Now given I have never been on any date before, I was absolutely clueless about any dating script. We had conversation around different topics but maybe I lacked that playful spark a bit. Also in hindsight I realized I could've asked better questions to her. And lastly, I clumsily attempted to express empathy towards a sensitive situation for her that didn't land well and made the vibe a bit heavy.

And post that, I received a soft rejection. Initially I was oblivious to all the above aspects I listed. So after that, I reflected on the date, and shared a final note with her apologizing for unintentionally making her uncomfortable, respected her decision to discontinue, honestly expressed my experience about how it felt getting to know her and wished her the best.

I was amazed by her ability to think deeply and articulate her thoughts. And mentally she is a very strong woman coz inspite of all the challenges she has faced in life, she had a refreshingly positive outlook. It genuinely felt good listening to her and knowing more about her life experiences.

After that, it took me some time to get over it. More than her, it was an emotional limbo that if I was so content being by myself, why did this impact me so much? Why did this connection matter to me? Was I wrong about myself all this long that I wanted to stay single?

There were violent storms internally because my old solo identity was clashing with this newfound desire to be with someone. Fear that what if I lose my freedom that I've been used to vs fear of not experiencing a connection in life.

I realized later maybe it was also partly due lack of emotional pacing at my end (possibly due to lack of dating experience). It took me a few weeks to get to the equilibrium state. But this equilibrium is different from my pre-date state. Because this experience taught me few important things:

1. Other pillars of my life (Career/Finances/Health/Hobbies/Friends/Family, etc.) were in maintenance mode prior to this date. Yes relationship is important but doesn't mean that it should become my only source of satisfaction. And if I'm living a passive life then any stressor can send me in a downward spiral. So keeping myself actively engaged across all the areas is extremely necessary regardless of whether I stay single or decide to marry.

2. About connection, pre-date I was completely closed off. Now I'm open to connection. But if I'm being practical, at this age it's not as easy as it would've been in 20s. Also having no prior dating/relationship experience, the learning curve will be definitely steep. So given the uncertainty and the odds fairly stacked against, I will still design my life keeping singlehood in mind but for the right person, I'll be willing to learn, take feedback and grow with them.

3. Unexpectedly this experience did subtly soften my edges a bit. Because earlier I had a tendency to get triggered when getting into arguments. But gradually I have started to be more open minded and very patient in disagreeing or maturely closing an argument without escalating (assuming how would I react to my partner).

Yes everything happens for a reason. Thanks Reddit for making this happen!

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all are doing well!

I'm sharing an incident that probably had an unexpectedly more impact on me than I could've imagined. It's a long post so please bear with me.

A little context: I have been a free bird by choice. Have been content on my own throughout my 20s. Have had quite a few experiences solo and life has been pretty peaceful and satisfactory.

Now a few weeks back, I had connected with someone on reddit (had a different account back then). Conversation had initially started around solo experiences and then it naturally evolved and we touched upon different topics, life experiences, perspectives etc. Although it was a normally engaging conversation, but the feeling of being understood or in sync was a bit different. I mean I have had chats with other women as well on reddit for weeks but it was always fun/surface level and never had a similar depth. So as the conversation progressed for a week, I gathered courage to ask her out as she happened to be from the same city.

She fortunately agreed. Now given I have never been on any date before, I was absolutely clueless about any dating script. We had conversation around different topics but maybe I lacked that playful spark a bit. Also in hindsight I realized I could've asked better questions to her. And lastly, I clumsily attempted to express empathy towards a sensitive situation for her that didn't land well and made the vibe a bit heavy.

And post that, I received a soft rejection. Initially I was oblivious to all the above aspects I listed. So after that, I reflected on the date, and shared a final note with her apologizing for unintentionally making her uncomfortable, respected her decision to discontinue, honestly expressed my experience about how it felt getting to know her and wished her the best.

I was amazed by her ability to think deeply and articulate her thoughts. And mentally she is a very strong woman coz inspite of all the challenges she has faced in life, she had a refreshingly positive outlook. It genuinely felt good listening to her and knowing more about her life experiences.

After that, it took me some time to get over it. More than her, it was an emotional limbo that if I was so content being by myself, why did this impact me so much? Why did this connection matter to me? Was I wrong about myself all this long that I wanted to stay single?

There were violent storms internally because my old solo identity was clashing with this newfound desire to be with someone. Fear that what if I lose my freedom that I've been used to vs fear of not experiencing a connection in life.

I realized later maybe it was also partly due lack of emotional pacing at my end (possibly due to lack of dating experience). It took me a few weeks to get to the equilibrium state. But this equilibrium is different from my pre-date state. Because this experience taught me few important things:

1. Other pillars of my life (Career/Finances/Health/Hobbies/Friends/Family, etc.) were in maintenance mode prior to this date. Yes relationship is important but doesn't mean that it should become my only source of satisfaction. And if I'm living a passive life then any stressor can send me in a downward spiral. So keeping myself actively engaged across all the areas is extremely necessary regardless of whether I stay single or decide to marry.

2. About connection, pre-date I was completely closed off. Now I'm open to connection. But if I'm being practical, at this age it's not as easy as it would've been in 20s. Also having no prior dating/relationship experience, the learning curve will be definitely steep. So given the uncertainty and the odds fairly stacked against, I will still design my life keeping singlehood in mind but for the right person, I'll be willing to learn, take feedback and grow with them.

3. Unexpectedly this experience did subtly soften my edges a bit. Because earlier I had a tendency to get triggered when getting into arguments. But gradually I have started to be more open minded and very patient in disagreeing or maturely closing an argument without escalating (assuming how would I react to my partner).

Yes everything happens for a reason. Thanks Reddit for making this happen!