She says the movie looks dumb; you suddenly agree. She tests you with a little attitude; you apologize for nothing.
You think you're being easy to get along with. She reads something else entirely: a man with no edges. Nothing to hold on to. No friction, no tension, no reason to wonder what he really thinks.
The "22 Rules" taught me to push back — playfully, calmly, without needing her approval. Strange things happened after that.
You paid for dinner. You drove. You said "whatever you want is fine" every single time. All the effort, no expectations.
And she left anyway — probably for a guy who makes her pick up the pizza.
Painful. Also predictable. Her mind quietly concludes that anything requiring zero effort from her is worth exactly zero. You became a free sample, and free samples get taken for granted.
The 22 Rules flip the dynamic. Small shifts that get her investing effort, money, and time in you — until SHE'S the one afraid of losing YOU.
Originally posted by xblitz44x
Like I said, every single girl and situation is different, so first you want to figure out exactly WHAT is bothering her.
Three seconds. That's how long it took. Your shoes. Your posture. The way you held your drink. Whether you looked at the floor or looked at her.
She already filed you away. Interesting. Boring. Safe. Bold. Before you even opened your mouth.
Everything you say after that is just her confirming what she already decided.
So stop rehearsing lines. Fix the first three seconds. Stand tall. Look up. Smile like you mean it. Walk like you belong wherever you're standing.
The words come later. The impression comes first.
Originally posted by Survivor
xblitz44x, I have a different viewpoint on this. I'd have to side more with what Austin Allegro and JohnJones stated but for slightly different reasons.
Whenever my wife is angry about something, my natural inclination is to do exactly what you stated; ask questions and figure out what's wrong. This solution usually backfires. Continually prying and asking questions about what's going on in her mind only aggrivates her even more, and in her mind, only proves to her how "out of touch" I am.
I've since learned that if something is bothering her (usually something in which I screwed up) I backtrack MY OWN ACTIONS without asking her what's wrong. I then say, "You seem angry about something. If its something I said or did, you need to tell me..." I then proceed to GIVE HER SPACE.
If it is me, she tells me and we work things out. If its not me, then she is given space so she can figure things out ON HER OWN. Even though I'm her husband I cannot solve all of her problems.
Although to a much lesser extent, Mike's situation is similar. If a girl says, "We're moving too fast." a good reaction would be "Sure I can slow down, but I'm not gonna stop. Things can only flow as fast or as slow as you want them to."
I'm of the opinion that "We're moving too fast" means exactly that. Don't be Captian Save-a-Ho. No reason to go nuts trying to figure out all the variables of why she said it. Just slow things down like she asked and perhaps date other girls in the meantime while she gains more of a comfort level with you.
She knows and is perfectly fine with it. Married guys need to know how to stay married, right?Originally posted by maranathaman
What is a Married-Man doing in this Forum moderating it even?
I wonder how your wf would feel about it?
You've said it a hundred times. Maybe a thousand. And every time you say it, you train your brain to freeze the next time she walks into the room.
Leagues are a myth invented by guys who are scared of women.
She's a person. She has bad breath in the morning. She picks songs she can't sing in the shower. She overthinks her own texts.
Walk over. Say something. The league dissolves the second you open your mouth.
I agree with xblitz here. It's crazy what you say because it sort of applies to a situation I was just in a few days ago. I was with a girl I met on the internet through some friends. We talked for a few weeks, just social banter, flirting, etc. She then got pretty serious on me. She contacted me all the time, and things progressed to the point where I went to see her. Before this, however, she went away for the weekend. Anyways, she came back and things seemed more distant. However, I went to see her anyways. We were very touchy feely and she hugged me all the time, etc. She was very into me. However, she suddenly got very dodgy and totally avoided me. She said she was freaking out and that was the way she dealt with it. However, she did tell me she liked me, but needed to be friends with me because she was really afraid (I'm guessing she's afraid of getting hurt).Originally posted by xblitz44x
"'Things are moving too fast' is usually a variation on LJBF. It basically means a woman has some initial attraction to you, but is unwilling to take things any further, probably because she has a better option lined up. She probably wants to keep you as a 'satellite' orbiting her as a backup."
That is nothing more than an assumption. You have NO idea why she think you're going to fast until you dig further. Personally, I think it USUALLY has nothing to do with her just wanting to be your friend because if it did, she wouldn't be making out with you at all.
Like I said, every single girl and situation is different, so first you want to figure out exactly WHAT is bothering her. Why is it too fast? What are her fears? What is holding her back? Again, you have to figure that if she's making out with you, it has nothing to do with lack or attraction, else she wouldn't be there. So there is another threat that is lingering that you've failed to address.
Maybe it's because she's afraid you won't have respect for her if she does too much with you too fast, since she sees potential in having something meaningful with you. Maybe she is afraid that you'll go around blabbling to everybody about what you did with her and she's worried about what people will think of her. Maybe she doesn't want you to just hit it and leave and before she shares that something that she considers 'special', she wants to make sure that your feelings are the same.
You can't just assume that it's one or the other until you've found out for sure. And once you have, THEN you can start doing the work to address and remove the threat so that the both of you can enjoy yourselves.