Landing dates is not my issue. The issue is that I feel like a Martian on app dates. Every time I go on one, the situation feels so unnatural that I clam up. I genuinely don’t know how to act or “be” on a date. Either I don’t say enough or I say too much or I blank on questions out of anxiety.

Friends and people I know can attest that they enjoy my company, but it seems as though I sabotage my time with strangers and make a bad first impression. The one “relationship” I had, I fell into through a freak chance encounter with someone extremely attractive etc. Even one of my closest guy friends from my business school study group admitted that he didn’t like me at Orientation.

I feel completely lost. Either need a shrink, a dating coach, or both. There’s something I’m doing that ruins every first date.

I wish I could be honest about the fact that I’m nervous on these dates because it might help the guys understand how I’m coming across. Is there a way to admit that you’re nervous without leaving yourself vulnerable to manipulation, or sounding like a middle school girl trapped in a twentysomething body?