When we’re thinking about getting back on the dating scene, we often run through countless reasons why we shouldn’t.

“What would my family think?”, “What if I’m not ready?”, “Do I have anything to offer?” and, of course “Is there anybody even out there who’s still single?” Those are exactly the questions I asked myself when I found myself single in my early 50s. Each and every one of my male friends and colleagues were married or engaged in long term relationships, and I couldn’t recall the last time I’d met a single woman.

It seemed to me that there might not be a mature dating scene in the UK at all. I thought that perhaps finding love over 50 was just something that people did in other countries. Well, I was wrong. Totally wrong, as it turns out.

In fact, the mature dating UK scene is one of the most vibrant in the world, with more single people over 50 now than ever before. Pair that with high levels of computer literacy and the normalisation of online dating and you’ve a recipe for an incredible online dating community of mature free and single daters.

According to PEW Research online dating is growing fastest for people aged under 25 and for those in their 50s and 60s – two age groups who previously weren’t engaging with online dating in a serious way.

So, whilst it might not seem like there’s much by way of a visible mature dating scene in the UK, it’s simply moved online. As we reach our fifties and above, life has a way of filling our time. Between family commitments, jobs and our social lives, we simply don’t have the time to go out there and find love like we did in our twenties and thirties. That makes us a less visible presence on the dating scene, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t there.

Instead, we choose to go online and find that special somebody in an environment where things move at our pace and fit around our lives.

Just the other day I was talking to a newly single friend who remarked to me that now her marriage is over, she just doesn’t feel like there’s anyone out there who’s in the same position as her. She’s ready, she tells me, to find love again. The story was familiar, but the details were changed. The answer, however, was the same – online dating. It worked for me, and it can work for you too.