Warning: Some offensive thoughts- (not mine) 

I do not think anyone has gone on a date with me and thought wow this girl is holding it down mentally. I know how I am and it’s best to get it out early on- I am not trying to fool anyone into dating me. Simultaneously, I do come across somewhat like I have it together – Get you someone who can do both is what I say. Unlike the last date story posted, which left me reeling in the aftermath as to what happened, for this next “side of their story” post, this man made it very clear what he thought of me by the end. 

Early in the dating world of apps I was not aware of the three in app messages, exchange numbers, three phone texts, and then set up a date. So when I matched with Chad and he asked me out on the first message I thought that is how these things worked. We agreed to meet at a local place. As it turns out, the one word or sentence phrase was just how Chad was. Immediately asking someone out was not how it was done, it’s just how Chad did it because he had little to say. During the course of the date there were a lot of one word, answers, and one-sided conversations on my part. That is until we stumbled upon books we’d read. 

When I tell you that Chad had immersed himself in the book The Secret it would not be enough. It would not cover how much he had absorbed the book. Similar to how the Witch covered all of Narnia in snow and misery so Chad had covered his entire personality, mindset, and self in The Secret. At this point the man who had previously been giving one word answers was speaking at length about the concepts of the book. I learned his life story as it related to the book. I learned about his dating history as it related to  the book, I learned about… you get the picture. At this point in the date the tables had turned and I must have seemed like the one not  having much to say. 

The positive mindset and manifesting scenarios seemed harmless until he started suggesting that homeless people could use the power of the secret to help better their situation. If only they thought more positively they would have a better chance of escaping this traume. And unfortunately that belief was not even the strangest. As shocked as Edmund was to find all the frozen creatures in the witches castle, I was even more perplexed by what I was listening to as Chad continued to speak. 

Neither the above part nor this next part do I say lightly, it’s just the context was so perplexing that for a moment I thought  I might have been on an episode of Punk’d. Chad has now moved on from his homelessness philosophy to his next beliefs about the application of the secret. He stated that people with special needs, mental illness, and physical ailments could  be “cured” as he said by living the teachings of The Secret. It is at this point in our date, that my phone, sitting on the table the whole time vibrates, and the Shazam app opens seemingly by itself. I stare at him and jokingly say I think they’re listening to us. Then shout “I know you’re there.” This man, who believes all the world’s problems are fixed through positive thinking, looks at me, and with a straight face says, “Are you crazy? I thought he was being facetious. But he adds to his comment, “who would be listening?”  He genuinely believes I may be slightly off. I was expecting a lesson from The Secret that  may be able to help me. Instead he signals to the waiter for the check and frantically moves to pay it so we can leave. Chad really thought I was losing it and rather than help me with his lessons from The Secret is in a hurry to put distance between us. So much for his humanitarian efforts.

The next day as I am driving down one of our main streets I happen to pass by Chad walking down the road with a new girl on what can best be described as an ice cream date. I had to fight back the urge to roll down the window and shout  run girl.