15 Ways Being Awkward AF Can Work To Your Advantage In Dating

Smooth girls might make flirting look like second nature and dating look like a breeze, but for all the awkward girls in the world, never fear — there’s still hope for us yet. Sure, when the waiter tells us, “Enjoy your meal,” we’ll respond with, “Thanks, you too,” every single time, and yeah, we won’t realize that our fly was down the whole entire date until after we get home. But while we’re accidentally falling down the stairs, we can still have men falling for us. In the dating world, being awkward isn’t always a liability — in fact, sometimes, it’s actually an asset.

1. You’re good at laughing off embarrassment. When you shut your skirt in the passenger side door of his car or accidentally call the maître d’ “Mom,” you just laugh it off and move on — just like you’ve been doing your whole entire life. When someone’s been awkward for as long as you have, they learn to bounce back fast from dating disasters.
2. You have a lot of entertainingly cringe-worthy stories. If there’s ever a dull moment or a lull in conversation, your partner’s in for a treat — because not only will you whip out your most embarrassing tales just to avoid an awkward silence, but you have enough of them that you could carry the entire rest of the date on the shoulders of your past misfortunes.
3. You know how to be vulnerable. There’s no need for your partner to try and crack your hardened outer shell to get to the real you. If you even had an outer shell, you probably would have broken it yourself when you tripped on the way to the bathroom. Vulnerability is attractive, and when you’re at peak awkwardness, being vulnerable isn’t even a choice — it’s just a reality.
4. You’re the furthest thing from fake. No one can ever pretend you’re a faker — and even when you try to play things cool, you usually manage to mess it up yourself before anyone else has a chance to call you out on it. You’re genuine to the core, which is incredibly easy to fall in love with.
5. You’re naturally sympathetic and forgiving. When your date-mate accidentally runs into that unexpected pull-don’t-push door, they might be a little mortified — but chances are, you’ve done the exact same thing within the last 24 hours. They’ll appreciate that you’re not judging them in their own time of awkwardness.
6. You’re girlfriend material. Awkward girls make for bad one night stands (we’re more likely to high-five you after a date than invite you back to our place). But the more a guy gets to know you, the less awkward you become — which puts you in a perfect position to move into the girlfriend zone.
7. You’re no good at playing games. Nobody actually likes playing games — and since you’re bad at them to begin with, people you’re dating generally will wise up and follow suit. Forget waiting days on end to text back — by the time they drop you off and drive home, you’ve probably already Snapchatted them a picture of the toilet paper you just realized you had stuck to your shoe for over half the date.
8. You can play it off as adorable. Thanks to movies and TV, clumsy girls often come off as cuter and more quirky than you’d ever imagine… so while you might be mortified by the way you accidentally let out a full-on mountain man burp mid-dinner, he probably thought the way you blushed afterward was the cutest thing he’d ever seen. Your awkwardness can even be sexy, so don’t think your dorky exterior is fooling anyone.
9. You’re self-aware. You’re used to people making you feel uncomfortable, so you’re ultra-aware when you’re making someone else feel that way too. This makes you awesome to date, because you keep things fun and relaxed, not uptight and serious.
10. No one ever has to wonder what they’re getting themselves into with you. You kind of have to lay all your cards on the table first thing (or else they’ll inevitably fly out of sleeves when you least expect it). It’s refreshing for guys to know exactly what they’re in for with you — because as sexy as playing things mysterious might sound, it’s actually kind of infuriating in practice.
11. You’re actually really nice. Awkward girls are nice girls, and no matter how hot a full-scale bitch and a half might be, nice guys will naturally gravitate towards you over her every single time. Nice girls don’t finish last — they’re every guy’s natural first pick.
12. You get overlooked by obnoxious d-bags. When a guy isn’t into you, you’re free to write him off as a d-bag (as if that Ed Hardy shirt didn’t sign his certificate already). You can usually be sure that guys who overlook you are just trying to avoid your awkward… which is okay, because that means that you wouldn’t have gotten along with them anyway.
13. You come off as very down-to-earth. Your awkwardness actually gives you an effortless girl-next-door vibe, which is super attractive — especially for someone looking for a relationship that’s actually meaningful. You’re not concerned with extravagance or showiness, and you’re grounded enough to make it through all the awkward phases of a relationship, which makes you a total catch.
14. You have fascinating talents and interest to offset your awkwardness. You probably realized early on that you were never going to make friends or catch men with your suave nature or enduring sultriness… because you don’t have either of those things. Instead, you actually developed skills and passions, which makes you interesting and easy to connect with — score!
15. You make people feel at ease around you. The things that you do to embarrass yourself on a regular basis might leave you wishing for a quick and painless death, but they actually put other people around you at ease. Your awkwardness isn’t just awkward — it’s charming, disarming, and totally beautiful!