Congrats on a 7 year long relationship in this era. I also admire your mindset and your interest in getting back out there.
There have been changes in the last 10 years.
Lets remember that 10 years ago was late 2011/early 2012. Tinder didn't launch until September 2012. With online dating, Match, OkCupid, and PlentyofFish were the dominant players in tech assisted dating in late 2011/early 2012. Plenty of women were on those sites back then and were getting their inboxes flooded. Let's not pretend 2011/2012 was some sort of dark age The change now is that a larger percentage of the single population now uses tech assisted dating method as compared to 10 years ago. Women now are getting both their swipe queues and inboxes flooded. Swipe apps took the worst elements of website dating and put them on steroids.
If you choose to meet women through in-person methods, there will be fewer changes. However, in-person approaching has changed in the last 10 years. Fewer men are now doing it and fewer women are accustomed to being approached. There are still enough men doing approaches.
The swipe apps are huge sausage fests
@SamTheHobit. Tinder is 76% male and Bumble/Hinge are 65% male. Based on these numbers, you're going to have a difficult time. It keeps getting worse. Men in 2021-2022 are having a harder time then even the men of 2016 on apps. Apps in 2016 were not easy either.
COVID has made in-person approaching more difficult. Good luck doing approaches in a grocery store with masks. Outdoor approaching is the most viable form of approaching now. I would study the Krauser/Torero London Daygame Model, which is likely the best outdoor approaching book that exists.
Texting in late 2011/early 2012 was a big deal if you were dealing with women born after the early to mid 1980s. In 2012, if you were a Gen X guy dealing with Gen X women (1981 is the last birth year of Gen X), you probably didn't need to do much texting. I'm an early Millennial and in 2012, women in the first half of the Millennial generation (birth years 1982-1989) expected you to text. That hasn't changed today. Now women of all ages expect you to text.
Keeping texting to a minimum. Only arrange logistics via text. No deep discussions. If you absolutely need to have a deep discussion at some point (likely after a few dates), arrange a time via text to have a phone conversation. Better yet, save that discussion for something in-person. I'm not discouraging phone calls but use them sparingly.
When I got women's phone number 10 years ago, I did not bang 90% of the numbers I got. Your game might have been better than mine back then. Also, in 2012, I got more numbers via tech assisted means and those numbers/first dates were typically worthless. My frame of reference might be skewed because of this.
Getting a number was and still is more valuable if you do it via an in-person approach. Social circle is always easiest, that's true in both 2012 and 2022.