Do you believe this is true?

Take example of putting on an event. It’s a good example just because it’s visible and has a beginning and end. Like any project, there are many pieces to coordinate, but in this case result is very public, right there for all attendees to experience and see.

As an event planner, you develop your muscles for tolerating “unmanageable.” You learn what to do when a speaker gets sick at last minute, a piece of equipment fails, caterer is late, or seating chart is defective. Then one day someone asks you to do an outdoor event and you hit wall. The weather cannot be controlled. Ever.

You can look at weather charts, and should. I’m thinking of friend of mine who planned an outdoor party in south Texas July 26th. It is so unlikely it would rain that day, it doesn’t even register on scale, but of course for her it did. That’s why we come up with phrases like, “If you want it to rain, wash your car.” Nothing else could’ve cause it to rain in San Antonio on July 26th except Pat’s elaborate outdoor festival. (It happens.)

I started my event planning as a volunteer doing benefits for charities. The women (there were no men doing this) were all experienced and they weren’t about to let a novice head an important committee without working their way up ranks. Therefore I started at bottom. Too bad apprentice-system doesn’t exist more widely in corporate world. It’s a good one.

"What kind of desperate person do you think I am?!?" she snapped.

She apologized, but explained that she felt “weird” about online dating. This perked my curiosity, so later I asked some of my other clients if they ever tried it. Some only confessed after their faces turned three shades of crimson. Since I am a strong proponent of online dating, I dispel any stigma or embarrassment when I recommend it to my clients. This is what I tell them:

For many singles, life moves like Richard Petty around Talladega Speedway. We change jobs every few years. We relocate more frequently. We cannot remember last time we answered a phone with a cord. Even if time is not issue, some single people cannot shake feeling that everyone else is happy while they are always alone. We may look at online dating as an act of desperation, because “normal people don’t need something like that.”

The simple fact is that you are not weird if you use an online dating service. We only feel weird when we think we are doing something outside norm. Consider this: over 40 million people in US access online dating websites every month. It is fastest growing sector of online content. There is no reason to feel embarrassed, because if you date online you are actually part of a huge group.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to find someone special, or at very least make some new friends, so why not use every resource available to you? You do not get extra points for meeting someone in a bar or while waiting for dry socks at Laundromat. Does it matter to you how you met important people already in your life? You probably barely even think about it.