A woman who had never been kissed or gone on a date until the age of 32 has finally starting dating and says she's not embarrassed to be a "late bloomer".<br /><br />Allora Campbell, 32, had spent all of her adulthood without going on a single date after she "lost trust in love" when she experienced unrequited love in her early 20s.<br /><br />She had expected she would get her ‘meet cute’ or be pursued by men but it never happened.<br /><br />Instead, she put her energy into her career and travelling and occasionally tried a dating app before promptly deleting it when experiencing “creepy” messages from guys.<br /><br />The self-confessed late bloomer 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.<br /><br />Allora says she felt she was “falling behind the expectations of dating in society” but now been on four dates and has been kissed – describing the moment as “sweet”.<br /><br />Allora, a marketer, from Rochester, New York, US, said: “I’m 32 and I had never been kissed or been on a date until last month.<br /><br />“I presumed that women were meant to be pursued or some sort of meet cute would happen.<br /><br />“But that never happened to me.<br /><br />“I thought there must be something wrong with me.<br /><br />“Instead of taking the narrative into my own hands I just put all my energy into my career and travel.<br /><br />“I felt like I had wasted 15 years coming to terms with it.<br /><br />“During the gap between Christmas and New Year I was snuggling my dog and I just thought – ‘if you do nothing, nothing will change’.<br /><br />“I love my life, but I wanted to try dating.<br /><br />“My goal was just to get out on dates and feel comfortable enough to do so.”<br /><br />Allora had grown up expecting she would meet someone or would be hit on by guys.<br /><br />She said: “I was crippled by a gender role.<br /><br />“The prince to princess.<br /><br />“When it didn’t happen, I did a lot of second guessing.<br /><br />“I’d question - ‘am I good enough?’<br /><br />“I’d download a dating app once a year have bad experiences with creeps and delete it without going on dates.”<br /><br />But Allora finally realised she needed to put herself out there after coming to terms with the idea that nothing would change unless she starting dating.<br /><br />She said: “I spent so many years worrying about what people would think about me.<br /><br />“It was self-sabotage.<br /><br />“I downloaded the dating apps and decided to try for January.<br /><br />“I didn’t really expect anything.<br /><br />“But I ended up with a connection with a guy and have been on four dates.<br /><br />“I was terrified for the first date.<br /><br />“I sang ‘I have confidence’ from the Sound of Music for my entire drive.<br /><br />“He was so cool about me not being kissed or having been on any dates.<br /><br />“He’s been really respectful.<br /><br />“I had my first kiss, and it was really sweet.”<br /><br />Before this year, hardly anyone knew Allora had never been on a date.<br /><br />But she took the plunge to share her secret on social media and was shocked by the fellow ‘late bloomers’ reaching out with support.<br /><br />“I thought I was the only person in the world going through this,” she said.<br /><br />“I feels like you're carrying a deep dark secret.<br /><br />“It made me braver saying it out loud.<br /><br />“I could always deflect any dating questions, so no one ever really knew before.<br /><br />“It’s not something I’m embarrassed about anymore.”<br /><br />Now Allora wants others to know it’s never too late to join the dating game.<br /><br />She said: “There’s no timeline.<br /><br />“Life is a marathon, not a sprint.<br /><br />“There is nothing wrong with coming to dating or romance at a later stage.”
