I think you're severely limiting your options if you don't try online dating or meetup groups. If you don't want serious, then try something like Tinder, which is more of a hookup app. Try a meetup group specifically for singles.
One of the downsides of asking out people you see at the gym or the coffee shop is that you don't actually know anything about them other than what tHey look like. So it's a pretty superficial thing at best. You don't know their personality, if they're single, if they want to be approached, etc. And all they know about you is that you were watching them and thought they were hot-- it's not about their personality, intelligence, chemistry, etc. So that can be an instant turn off. I realize that women are different and not every woman feels the way I do-- but I do find it intrusive when I get hit on in public. It happens AT LEAST three times a week. I'll be going about my business, get approached by some guy who I didn't even notice was watching me, and then I'll have to find a polite way of saying "no" because, if I'm too assertive, I get called a b****. I'm not married, but I actually wear a ring on my ring finger in an effort to prevent getting hit on-- but it doesn't work. And I do call it getting hit on because men flag me down, while I am actively walking or shopping or lifting weights, they get me to stop what I am doing so they can deliver a pick up line, and even after I say "no thank you" they usually try to get me to change my mind or listen to a longer pitch. It takes time out of my day, makes me uncomfortable, and makes me not want to go out in public as much because I dread it. I wish there was a way to put a sign on myself that said "don't talk to me; I'm busy." Half the time, the guys will tell me that they thought I was giving them a look or a smile or something. I definitely wasn't, but they seem to see what they want to see. It makes me not want to smile or be friendly to strangers because they only take it as romantic encouragement. I think if men had any clue at all about how much this happens to women and what it feels like, they would act differently.
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