I thought online dating was good fun, but hobbies and social

In the voice of warmth and lived understanding, Coleen Nolan, the singer, writer, and truth-teller of life’s ordinary miracles, once said: “I thought online dating was good fun, but hobbies and social groups outside of work are also good ways of meeting like-minded people and widening your social network.” Though her words may seem light — a reflection on love and friendship in the modern world — they carry within them an ancient lesson, one that speaks of balance, community, and the art of finding connection not only through technology, but through shared experience and human presence.

Nolan’s wisdom is born of her own journey — a woman who has lived beneath the bright lights of fame and yet understood the quiet hunger of the human soul: the need to belong. Her message is simple but profound. Online dating, she admits, can be joyful and playful — a way for people to reach beyond their small circles, to explore possibilities that once would have remained unknown. Yet, she reminds us that love and friendship do not dwell only behind screens or within algorithms. They are living things, born from shared laughter, mutual effort, and the small adventures that happen when people gather in the same place with purpose and heart.

The ancients would have understood her well. In the agoras of Greece and the forums of Rome, it was in the meeting of minds and hearts that relationships flourished. People connected not merely through conversation, but through participation — in music, in games, in debate, in worship, in learning. These gatherings were more than social customs; they were sacred spaces of discovery. So too does Coleen Nolan speak to that ancient truth — that the most enduring connections often arise when we live life fully, when we open ourselves to the world through hobbies, through shared passions, through the simple act of being among others who seek joy and meaning.

There is a story told of Helen Keller, who, though blind and deaf, reached into the world with fierce curiosity. She learned not only from books, but from touch, from the company of others, from the rhythm of shared experience. Her friendships, forged in the furnace of limitation, were not made through convenience but through connection — that sacred meeting of spirit to spirit. Nolan’s advice carries that same heartbeat: while the modern world offers many shortcuts to companionship, it is still in shared living — in art, music, learning, and play — that we discover the truest bonds.

There is a deeper wisdom hidden here: that the human soul needs community as much as it needs romance. Many chase love as if it is a solitary prize, forgetting that friendship, laughter, and belonging are its foundations. When Nolan speaks of “widening your social network,” she is not merely suggesting more acquaintances — she is calling us to build richer lives, to weave ourselves into the tapestry of others. In doing so, we not only open the door to love but also strengthen the inner garden of joy and peace that sustains it. For one who lives among kindred spirits never walks alone.

And yet, her quote carries balance. She does not dismiss the modern world’s gifts; she embraces them. Online dating, she says, can be “good fun” — a place where curiosity meets courage. But she reminds us that it should not replace the human experience; it should complement it. It is the difference between seeing the reflection of life and truly touching it. In a time when many retreat behind screens and profiles, her words call us back into the world — to the parks, the clubs, the music halls, and the laughter of real gatherings.

So let this teaching be taken to heart: seek connection not only through technology, but through the living pulse of the world around you. Join the painting class, the book club, the hiking group, the choir — not merely to find others, but to find yourself among them. For it is through shared purpose that the soul is nourished and love is found without pretense. Do not isolate your heart behind glass; let it breathe in the company of others.

And remember this final truth, as Coleen Nolan so gently reminds us: love is not an algorithm, but an encounter. It is the laughter that arises unplanned, the bond that forms in the doing, the friendship that grows in the shared pursuit of joy. Whether through the light of a screen or the warmth of a room filled with kindred souls, seek always the places where your heart may meet others — not by chance alone, but by the courage to live fully and openly in the world.