One night, feeling particularly insecure about my two year relationship with my on-again, off-again, semi-exclusive, what-the-fuck boyfriend (we will call him J), I started posting Hinge content to my personal instagram account to do the only thing I knew how: make the motherfucker jealous. I would find prompts, rattle off witty responses, and post them to my stories. In addition to successfully rattling J, I also started getting pretty good feedback from my other followers about how funny my stories were. Eventually, enough people gave me the confidence to convince myself that I should create my own Instagram account solely devoted to Hinge content. I chose the name “Once Upon a Time on Hinge” because I loved the oxymoron of an antiquated phrase associated with romantic fairy tales being associated with content related to the most modern, and at times depraved form of courtship possible.
Eventually I started being reposted by much larger accounts, such as @unhingedny, and gained followers exponentially. J was semi-supportive of my new venture, although he muted my content because according to him, I was “spamming” his page.
Without getting into too many of the precipitating factors, when J asked to meet me for drinks on Tuesday, May 28, I had a pit in my stomach. We had been fighting a lot, and I had a strong feeling he was going to break up with me. The moment he sat down in front of me, I knew, and started bawling my eyes out (think Warner breaking up with Elle Woods in Legally Blonde… I was Elle). The break up itself was as pleasant as one could be. We both cried, said we loved each other, hugged for a long time, and then said goodbye for good.
I was crying in the Uber on the way home, and decided to share what had happened with a tearful video to my followers. My account is focused on dating, and something monumental had just occurred in my dating life. I have always wanted to cultivate a raw, real, and honest perspective on modern dating with my account, so I tearfully told my followers what had happened. To my absolute surprise, I immediately received hundreds of direct messages from followers, strangers, offering kind words of encouragement and love. I have never believed more in the good in humanity and the positive power of social media until that moment.
The nature of my account is naturally shifting further away from Hinge content (I am not ready to date again, at least not seriously, for the time being) to chronicles of post-breakup life. I am sure my account will continue to morph and change, but always in the most raw and authentic way possible.
So far, my account has taught me two very important lessons: (1) Chivalry is not dead (2) I might have to kiss a lot of frogs, but I will find my happily ever after.
Once Upon a Time Dating 