Caldus
Senior Don Juan
Sometimes I feel like I know who I am and then sometimes I don't. I'm beginning to think that maybe I still haven't found the real me. I know this sounds kind of vague, but I think you all know what I am talking about.
Next Monday you'll feel more confident. After the gym you'll feel more confident. After one more drink you'll feel more confident. After you get a better haircut, a better jacket, a better job.
You've been "getting ready" for two years.
She's standing ten feet away right now. She'll be gone in four minutes. No amount of preparation will manufacture the courage that only comes from moving your feet.
Walk over. Stumble through the first sentence. Let it be clumsy. Let it be imperfect. You will feel more alive in those ten seconds than you have all month.
You've replayed it a hundred times. She stood three feet away, scrolling her phone. You had an opening. You composed the perfect line — after she was gone.
For all you know, she's married now. To some guy who said something. Anything.
Openers are cheap. Almost any sentence works when it's delivered within three seconds. The expensive part is the standing there, drafting and deleting, while the window quietly closes.
The "22 Rules" stripped out my hesitation. What to open with, how to keep it alive, and the one habit that costs guys more women than anything else: waiting for perfect.
The psychological idea of identity in humans is related to self image, namely a person's view or mental model of him or herself, usually known as their personal identity (see identity crisis and the work of Erik Erikson.)
Sociology recognizes the concept of identity negotiation where a person has multiple identities that relate to different aspects of their life and personality and "negotiates" with society as to the meaning of that identity in their life.
In philosophy, the self is the idea of a unified being which is the source of an idiosyncratic consciousness. Moreover, this self is the agent responsible for the thoughts and actions of an individual to which they are ascribed. It is a substance, which therefore endures through time; thus, the thoughts and actions at different moments of time may pertain to the same self (See John Locke's theory of consciousness as the basis of personal identity). As the notion of subject, the "self" has been harshly criticized by Nietzsche at the end of the 19th century, on behalf of what Gilles Deleuze would call a "becoming-other".
Many quotations assert that to truly know thyself is the most difficult thing to achieve. Thales of Miletus, when asked what was difficult, answered in a well-known apophthegm: "To Know Thyself" (γνῶθι σεαυτόν), also attributed to Socrates, and inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Lao Zi in his Tao Te Ching says "Knowing others is wisdom | Knowing the self is enlightenment. | Mastering others requires force | Mastering the self requires strength."
You asked her if she wanted to grab coffee. Then you asked if the time worked. Then you asked if the place was okay. Then you asked if she'd prefer tea.
Four questions. Four chances for her to say no. Four signals that you're terrified of making a decision.
Plan it. Pick the place. Pick the time. Tell her where to meet you. She'll either show up or she won't.
Either way, you look like a man instead of a scared little boy.