You see someone.
Nothing dramatic. Nothing you overthink at first. Just enough to notice them, enough to think, “I could say something.”
And for a second, you actually consider it.
Not a full conversation or some perfect line. Just something simple to start.
Then your mind starts doing what it does.
You realize you don’t know anything.
You don’t know if they’re single, if they’re interested, if they came with someone, or if they’re just being polite in a room they don’t even want to be in. You don’t know if they’d welcome it or if you’d be interrupting something you can’t see.
And that’s the part that stops you.
Not because you can’t…
because you don’t want to be the only one trying.
Because if you’re wrong, there’s no hiding it.
Now it’s obvious.
Now it’s public.
Now you’re the one who reached… and missed.
Because it’s not really about confidence. It’s about not wanting to get it wrong.
You wait a second. Maybe they glance over again, maybe they don’t. Either way, the moment shifts just enough to make it feel off.
Now it feels late.
So you do what everyone does. You look at your phone, adjust your position, or pretend you weren’t thinking about it at all.
And just like that, it’s gone.
That was the moment.
This doesn’t happen once.
It happens all the time. At the bar, at the gym, at restaurants, at events, even standing next to someone longer than you should be without saying anything.
People aren’t avoiding each other.
They’re avoiding being wrong.
Nobody wants to misread the situation, make it awkward, come off like they’re trying too hard, or feel stupid for even attempting.
So instead, everyone plays it safe.
And “playing it safe” doesn’t look dramatic.
It looks normal.
Staying where you are.
Not saying anything.
Waiting for a better moment that never really comes.
It’s not that people don’t want connection.
It’s that nobody knows who’s open to it.
So nothing happens.
Not because there wasn’t a moment…
Because there was no signal.
