Hey. So, uh. How's your night going so far?
It's been good, yeah. I was a little nervous before coming, honestly — first dates are kind of vulnerable, you know? But I'm feeling better now that we're actually here talking.
Yeah, I get that. Nerves make sense. I'm glad you're feeling better though — that helps.
Thanks for saying that. It's nice when someone actually acknowledges it instead of trying to brush past it. Do you get nervous on dates too, or are you pretty comfortable with this kind of thing?
I do, yeah. Not gonna lie. I'm better once we actually start talking, like now. Before I got here I was... definitely in my head about it.
Yeah, that makes sense. There's something about the anticipation that's worse than the actual thing, right? Like your brain's making it bigger in your head than it needs to be. But I'm glad you're here and we're talking — this feels real, at least.
aphorism
Anticipation inflates what presence deflates. The mind rehearses catastrophe; conversation rehearses connection. Vulnerability named is vulnerability shared. Two nervous things meeting discover they were never as alone in their nervousness as they thought.