I think I’m aromantic, but I’m also still only eighteen.

I think I’m aromantic, but I’m also still only eighteen.

“I think I’m aromantic.” I’m sure that’s a statement heard a lot in this community, but I don’t really have anyone else I can talk to about this. Warning: this a long post.

I started college in the summer of 2024. Throughout my entire life, people have always questioned my lack of a boyfriend, or even just guys to date. It’s never really been the lack of boyfriend that made me think about since there is no set rule in when you should date someone, but my sophomore year of high school was when I really began to wonder if there was something wrong with me.

In middle school, my lack of interest in boys made a lot of people, including my parents, start to believe I’d end up being gay. Hell, even I started thinking I may have been gay, but then I realized how stupid that was because I wasn’t even attracted to girls either. I just didn’t think of people that way. I honestly don’t even think I wanted to.

I experienced my first feeling of physical/sexual attraction when I was 15 with a senior from my school. (Nothing sexual actually happened, he was just nice to look at). This is what made me realized that I was indeed “attracted” to men, but the feeling never went beyond that. I don’t how to explain it, but the moment we really became friends, the attraction kinda just… fizzled out.

It was easy for me to avoid invading questions from people when I was younger because I just thought romance was gross and cheesy and general. But now, the concept of it just seems foreign to me. Even if watch a romance movie that I genuinely enjoy (which is rare), I still have a hard time imagining myself in that fluffy scenario, or any scenario. Even if I’m watching my friend’s, sister’s, or even my parent’s relationships go through their best and worst stages, it just feels like watching a movie or listening to an audio book when they describe what “love” felt like to them.

I still have a very difficult time imagining myself with a husband, or even just a short-term boyfriend.

I know my parents mean well and I appreciate their lack of judgment, but I would like to hear some other advice besides, “You’re young.” Or “The right person will come along eventually.”

I’d appreciate any sort of insight. Thank you.