A woman who had never been kissed until the age of 32 has finally starting dating and says she's not embarrassed to be a "late bloomer". Allora Campbell, 32, "lost trust in love" when she experienced unrequited love in her early 20s.
She had expected she would be pursued by men but it never happened. So she put her energy into her career and travelling and occasionally tried a dating app before promptly deleting it after experiencing “creepy” messages from guys.
But eventually, Allora realised nothing would change in her life if she didn’t do something about it. So she set herself a goal of going on dates for a month in January 2023. She has now been on four dates and has been kissed – describing the moment as “sweet”.
Allora, a marketer, from New York, US, had grown up expecting she would meet someone or would be hit on by men. She said: “I was crippled by a gender role.
"The prince to princess. When it didn’t happen, I did a lot of second guessing."
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She continued: "I presumed that women were meant to be pursued or some sort of meet cute would happen. But that never happened to me. I thought there must be something wrong with me.
"During the gap between Christmas and New Year I was snuggling my dog and I just thought, ‘if you do nothing, nothing will change’. I love my life, but I wanted to try dating. My goal was just to get out on dates and feel comfortable enough to do so.
“I spent so many years worrying about what people would think about me. It was self-sabotage."
She downloaded some dating apps and decided to start searching in January. She ended up connecting a man and they have so far been on four dates.
“I was terrified for the first date," she admits. "I sang ‘I have confidence’ from the Sound of Music for my entire drive.
“He was so cool about me not being kissed or having been on any dates. He’s been really respectful. I had my first kiss, and it was really sweet."
Allora shared her secret on social media and was shocked by the fellow ‘late bloomers’ reaching out with support. “I thought I was the only person in the world going through this,” she said.
“I feels like you're carrying a deep dark secret. It made me braver saying it out loud.
“I could always deflect any dating questions, so no one ever really knew before. It’s not something I’m embarrassed about anymore.”
And Allora now wants others to know it’s never too late to join the dating game. She said: “There’s no timeline.
“Life is a marathon, not a sprint. There is nothing wrong with coming to dating or romance at a later stage.”
