Dating has always been difficult, but it has perhaps never been as complicated as today with the advent of dating apps, never ending options and a pandemic thrown in for good measure.
Sick of swiping left and right and looking for a community to relate to, the ‘I Think He’s Gone Weird Blog’ is your savior. Created by Tipperary native Fenella Fox, the blog is her perspective on the Irish dating scene as a twenty-something single woman today.
Fenella created the blog in May last year as another way of expressing her creativity through her writing. “I always loved writing about dating, but lockdown really had me pondering the end of a recent situationship and I was going through a hard time with it. I decided to start sharing my own experiences of the modern dating scene in Ireland.”
She adds: “At first it was going to be a weekly post about relationships on my original blog Instagram page, but my sister told me my love life is so unfortunate that it deserved an entire Instagram page of its own!”
There’s a plethora of fashion, beauty and fitness blogs but much less on dating so Fenella has responded well to this niche in the Irish blogging sphere.
“I hadn’t come across many Irish accounts dedicated specifically to dating and I felt it was time to start the conversation about it as a twenty-something woman. I just feel our dating lives are something we all spend so much time thinking about, it has potential to fly if you find your niche,” she says, “we’ve all sat with our girlfriends on lunch dates and tried to make sense of our love lives, and we’re all asking the same questions.”
The blog discusses Fenella’s personal dating disasters, chasing f**kboys, ex boyfriends, almost boyfriends, ghosting and more. She believes that social media has really changed dating. “My content is very shaped by ghosting, Instagram likes, Snapchat, swiping right, and everything in between. From ex-boyfriends, to almost-boyfriends and the heartbreak from the guy who was never even your boyfriend, there’s a whole world of content to explore.”
“I draw on past emotions and thoughts, and then shape it into relatable content. My friends always say: “That could only happen to you…” when something goes wrong because I’m a total dating disaster, so there’s a lot of funny stories to work with.”
Dating aficionada, Fenella feels that women are tricked into believing that when they express their emotions to a man that they are over-emotional and obsessed with him. She reveals, “I’ve been there, especially because I’m a very sensitive person and a total hopeless romantic, so it’s really important to me to get the message across that you own your feelings and are allowed to speak about them.”
Fenella loves to make humorous content which also helps her to process her emotions. According to the young writer and blogger, she presents her true self on ‘I Think He’s Gone Weird’ and feels that’s why people find her content so relatable.
“The unfortunate stories and not very glam pictures, it’s the reality of life we don’t normally absorb online. The content writes itself because I’m just drawing from my personality and I really am that gal that unfortunate things always happen to – Find me a pond, I’m falling in… find me a f**kboy, I’m falling for him! There are some moments of comedy gold I haven’t even touched on yet, but I’m saving those for a book.”
Despite having a reserve of ideas for content from past experiences, Fenella is itching for life to go back to normality and for the club doors to open again. “It will be really fun to create content when life feels more normal, I think there will be a really fresh buzz around my writing for me. In terms of my actual dating life, I’m definitely ready for a good night out, these Tinder men could be catfish and I’m really missing pre-drinks with the girls”, Fenella says.
Discussing dating on apps and social media, Fenella believes there are so many options nowadays. “Comparison is a huge issue because when you’re in that limbo place of course you’re wondering if he has other options that he’s more invested in. You’re analysing likes, replies and active statuses when we don’t really have real insight into people’s lives.”
According to Fenella, there are only so many times you can rant about one guy without feeling like you’re driving people mad. This is exactly why she wants her blog to be the go-to for women when that doubt sets in.
“Boyfriend can almost feel like a taboo word at times, and it’s so easy to wonder: ‘Why wasn’t it me?’ when he commits to somebody else. The thing is, I want women to know they’re not alone in that feeling, they’re perfect just as they are. I’ve gone through the ups and downs with my own friends, and I always want them to recognise their worth when they’re questioning it!”
For more hilarious dating stories and relatable content check out her blog here and the ‘I Think He’s Gone Weird’ Insta