As I've mentioned, I've been out of the game for over 2 years now, so I haven't put any amount of effort into this....I don't have to explain why that would result in getting 0 dates lol.
Now that I look back on that stretch of time I was talking about, where I was putting in a lot of effort into trying to meet women, I feel I perhaps was trying too hard and putting a lot of pressure on myself. I have much more going on in my life now than I did back then, I'm definitely more confident in myself now and at the time that represented a period where I was just starting to become social. In my teens through my early to mid 20s I had virtually no social life and by most standards could be classified as a recluse. I can look back and definitely say I was a bit awkward compared to now, so perhaps this was being picked up on by women and other people.
I also feel that there are a combination of various factors at play. Some other things I feel were simply related to bad luck/meeting the wrong women, I had a few specific cases I could elaborate on that were pretty bat**** crazy.
For instance, in 2017 I met one that was a huge attention *****, ultimately led to nothing, and 6 months later I found out this woman was a politically active communist in my area. There were videos of her in the news, plus she had a youtube channel and a facebook page dedicated to this stuff, it was actually pretty shocking and when I saw this I immediately realized that the universe had saved me from a bullet. I've had others but this one was definitely more unique in comparison.
Some other issues relate to the demographics of my area, the mid 20s-30s dating scene is not exactly the best. A lot of women in my area have also expressed that they don't date white men, this is something that I've heard other people discuss but based upon some of my experiences I feel there may be truth to this.
If I was to actually put effort in right now I feel I would be in a much better place. I don't think I'd put so much pressure on myself to succeed, which is a trait I've always had that has at times proven to be problematic in that I burn myself out emotionally. With some of the experiences I've had, I'd be able to spot red flags much easier and would be able to emotionally move on right then and there, where as before I overlooked these signs far too regularly and burned myself. With all the stuff I have going on right now, I don't think I'd tolerate a whole lot and would quickly next a lot of women. My current mental state I'd honestly say is now in a place of being scarce on time and energy, where as before I was in a place of emotional scarcity. That's why I stated earlier that I feel I used to base my happiness and sense of self from other people, whereas now it's based off of validation I get from my own accomplishments, etc.