Can You Date the Right Person at the Wrong Time?

They had everything: charm, chemistry, and the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet. But hey, maybe it was just bad timing, right?

We’ve all got one. The almost. The what-if. The human version of a painfully good trailer for a movie that never got made. They were everything you wanted, except ready.

Cue: “Right person, wrong time.” It sounds romantic, tragic, poetic even. But sometimes, it’s just our favorite excuse for someone who couldn’t show up.

Sure, maybe they were finishing grad school. Maybe they just got out of something messy. Maybe Mercury was in retrograde and their dog had separation anxiety. But let’s be honest: if someone wants to be with you, timing becomes a detail, not a deal-breaker.

Psychologists call this temporal dissonance: when two people aren’t emotionally aligned in their life phase, despite strong attraction. You’re dreaming of IKEA trips and shared Google Calendars, and they’re dreaming of... not being tied down. Cute.

But here’s the kicker: blaming timing protects our ego. “They loved me, just not then,” sounds so much better than “They didn’t choose me.” It’s emotionally safer to mourn a missed connection than to admit someone wasn’t willing to grow with you.

And sometimes? Yeah, timing is real. People need to heal. Build careers. Find themselves. But if they keep circling back only when they’re bored or lonely, you’re not a cosmic love story—you’re a safety net with a nice smile.

So, if you're holding onto a “maybe someday,” ask yourself: do I want to be someone’s choice... or their hypothetical?

The right person at the wrong time? Might just be the wrong person, period.