Maybe your expectations regarding relationships are too high and idealistic.

While I think that in very rare cases, some tiny minority of people are very lucky to just so happen find themselves in wonderful relationships with a soulmate, I think that in general relationships are not all they're cracked up to be.

I get the impression that for a lot of people it's like a "grass is greener" phenomenon, where if they perceive that they can't get a relationship, then surely relationships must be the best thing on earth.

But in reality all that seems to distinguish a romantic relationship from a close friendship is the sexual aspect. Romantic relationships are like friends who have sex and promise not to have cheat on each other. Or something. It's like a means to have sex with much less risk of getting diseases or otherwise getting hurt, if you commit to just one partner.

But remove the element of sex, and you're just two humans interacting with each other, with all of the typical potential issues, problems and annoyances. And you can wind up making a lot of compromise and sacrifices just for that element of sex as opposed to friendships. Is it really worth it?

I personally don't think so, but don't judge people who do. Still, if some amazing, wonderful relationship were to happen to fall into my lap, that would be cool, in the same way winning the lottery would be cool. But I'm certainly not about to feel depressed that I haven't won the lottery and am single.

To me it sounds like your experiences have been fairly standard.. fleeting attempts at dating that didn't lead anywhere. Sounds pretty normal.