Lots of people, but women in this scenario specifically, do what is called in logical fallacies, a slippery slope.
If you wanted to get very eastern philosophical about it, they live in the past, and in the future but not the present.
slippery slope argument looks like one relatively minor thing that builds into an uncontrollable overwhelming and extremely unlikely conclusion.
but what if I really like him? and I'm not over my EX, and then I get involved with the new guy who doesn't want kids, or doesn't know, and then my ex wants to get back together, and he does want kids, and then it's a love triangle and I end up lonely and alone and childless
what if I don't like him that much, and it's akward and weird, and then nothing happens but he texts me later and I don't know what to say, so I just ghost him, and then he texts me again, so I block him, and then he calls me from a differnet number and dm's me, so I have to block him and change my social media....
what if I like him and then he asks me on a second date, but I have to do so much that next week, and I'll be gone for work, and then how will we keep in contact, and what if he cheats on me while I am traveling, and then I see him on social media in another girls story, and then I'm heartbroken and alone
but it's also an example of how people view life. and it can be really different. To me, almost the only requirement for entry I have is what am I doing better on a Tuesday night? Glamorous dinner, and a date, some great food, sexual tension, maybe some really hot interaction? or posting about the geopolitical implications of Mayo Zambadas surrender on a forum? or reading a 400 page novel abut the existence of the devil?