Could it be I’m Aro or something else?
I'm 23, and for a while, I thought that I liked guys, but as I started getting older, I realized that most of those feelings were toward people that I barely knew and wished to get closer to.
I've had situations where I have either liked someone for a short period of time, not longer than three months, or I have liked someone for many years, despite not interacting with them or seeing them.
After the second scenario, I started suspecting this wasn't particularly common or something I heard people around me experienced.
After a lot of searching, I came across the term "limerence." In that moment, I realized I didn't know much about the person I thought I had a crush on at the time, but rather, I liked the idea of what I thought being with them would be/feel like.
Sometimes I wonder if it's just me not trying to date irl, but whenever someone gets introduced to me, I already feel uncomfortable with the idea of having to meet someone.
And the very few times I did try dating someone online, I felt uncomfortable with the idea of being someone's partner, if that makes sense.
I would think of myself all the time in this sort of box of being someone's partner, and then I would like to think of things that I thought partners do, like calling someone "babe," or having to call them all the time, or saying "I love you."
I don't think it's that I was nervous but excited; I felt like I wanted to run away and call it quits. Because of that, I always end up ending the relationship very early on because I don't want to waste the other person's time or hurt their feelings.
So lately, I'm wondering if maybe I'm Aromantic