I have been going to therapy off and on for years and whenever I bring up my desire to date and my difficulties with it I have gotten back to just work on myself and online I have seen “if you aren’t happy alone you won’t be happy in a relationship”. I have major depression and have had it for years. Am I supposed to just hope it goes away? Wait until my entire life has passed?
While there is some credence to “you can’t truly learn to live another until you learn to love yourself”, I think we king as you approach a relationship with the right mindset you don’t have to love yourself / be happy. Right mindset being the operative word.
Anecdotal, but back when my depression was even worse I approached them as a “if I can’t be happy I want to dump 110% of myself into the relationship to make my partner happy”. It doesn’t take alot to understand why that’s such a bad approach. As long as you find someone who you can trust with your weaknesses and be trusted with theirs, maintain a open line of communication, and generally be comfortable around I don’t see why not.