I am 27, I am self employed and being single all a lot of my life. I met my proper gf when I was 24 and was her for a couple of years but since then nothing.

I used to chat to a lot of girls online when I was younger but I am finding it much harder to do now I am getting older.

I don't even know what I want from my life. My mates are all moving with their gfs to point that sometimes on at weekend I am going clubbing alone just so I can do a bit of dancing and escape from the house (I enjoy it).

Anybody else feel like their life is coming to a halt?

I don't really want to start PMing girls on here as I think its pestering.

OK, I know Pestering and Private both start with "P", I assure you it is the latter meaning for PM unless you're referring to Downing street where "Public Menace" would be more appropriate.

Some people just aren't made to start early, one of my friends was nearly 30 before he got the urge to date on a serious level. Don't let age make you fret too much about it, the only time you're getting too old to date is when you're wearing a fancy wooden coat and some idiot is throwing shovel fulls of dirt on top of you.

It sounds to me like you're stressing which is, in itself, having a negative effect on your chat up outcome. If you were at a car auction bidding on cars and lost the first couple, would you just give up or would you see if you can win the next one? Maybe it's not quite the same but, you get the idea, you're not going to win first time every time. However, you'll never win unless you start bidding.

So pester them but be selective and creative about what you write as an opener, if it doesn't work or you get a negative or no response, move on to the next. You're on a dating site, it's what a PM is for.