Dinner ran three hours. She laughed at everything. You walked her to her car thinking this one's locked in.
Then: nothing. Two texts. No reply. What happened?
You did what most men do on a great date. You filled every silence, answered every question, and left her with nothing to wonder about. No mystery. Nothing to sit with when she got home.
Rule 3 of the "22 Rules" changes the ending: tell her a little, hold back the rest, and let her imagination do the chasing. The ghosting stops too.
That sentence contains at least five follow-up questions she WANTS you to ask. Where in Florida? What brought you here? How long have you been in the area? What do you miss? How does it compare to here?
She handed them to you on a silver platter. And you said, "Oh cool. I come here every week. I love this band. Ummm... pretty crowded tonight."
She smiled politely. Nodded. And never texted you back.
I was that guy for years. Talking too much. Listening too little. Panicking about my next sentence while she was literally feeding me the answers.
Then I found 22 rules that fixed the whole thing. Rule number one: shut up and listen. She'll tell you exactly what to say.
AGREED,but that's only part of the problem.Othello said:Just from reading your posts, you seem to comply to women a little bit too much.
Igetit! said:AGREED,SBW,you seemed to be upset with this girl over those "b!tchy" text messages she sent you the other night.
If you'd just be a man and refuse to be treated with anything LESS THAN dignity and respect,she'd either rise her behavior up to the level that she knows you find acceptable,or you'd have kicked her childishness and indecisiveness to the curb a long time ago.
To be honest,I don't know which one is worse:Her immature,infantile behavior,or you choosing to continue putting up with it.
Seems to me like you have oneitus. No man in his right mind would settle for being some chick's side show while she's waiting for the main attraction to come along.
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.
This is the same girl who you originally started posting in this thread about,the one you want to form a relationship with,but who's been keeps giving you the run-a-round for the past 7 months,right?SBW said:In the time it took me to go to my PC & type this, she has sent me another four appealing/desperate texts have replied to say "hang-on!"
Forget the cash, the cars, and the chiseled jawlines. Female desire operates on a completely different frequency. Primal. Subconscious. Triggers that bypass her logic and hit her on a gut level. Most guys are totally blind to them.
I know because I was one of them. The overthinking. The paralysis. The silent drive home kicking yourself for freezing up. Watching average guys walk away with the girl while you stood there stuck in your own head.
Then I decoded the psychology behind what actually makes women tick. 22 hard rules. Subtle behavioral shifts that rewired my entire reality. The anxiety evaporated. Women started leaning in. Investing. Chasing.
Igetit! said:Anyway,this is kinda what I figured what would happen. It's like I said,if you back off,TRUELY BACKOFF,then she'd go nuts trying to use whatever she could get her hands on you get you back tangled up in that neverending foolishness,but honestly,using her kid????
That's low dude. That's real low.
I can see using sex,but to go as far as using her kid to lure you back is kind of sick. And the crazy part is she's not even doing it to get back into a relationship with you,she's trying to get you back to being on "standby" mode. I don't even know what to say about that.
I guess you can reply whatever you want. I wouldn't have replied at all.
Thanks - Yes it seems to be going great FTM.Weezy said:This post is a great example of why you need to go strait NC...
Any power my EX had over me is gone as I don't have any desire to be with her now that I've hung out with other chicks.
NC just plan fn works. SBW.. You really should open your eyes man, you're just causing yourself way to much fn pain man... It isn't worth it.
Your buddy Dave has been single for three years and thinks "hey u up" is a valid strategy. Your other buddy Mike just got dumped and told you to "just be yourself."
You showed them her text. You asked them to decode the emoji. You drafted four responses and sent the screenshot to the group chat for a vote.
She's been waiting forty minutes.
Put the phone down. Stop crowdsourcing your love life. Type something that sounds like you. Hit send. Then go do literally anything else with your evening.
Well, she said "anniversary" so its been at least a year. Wouldn't you have shown some symptoms by now?SBW said:We were at a party in her hometown a while back and one of the fellow guests has just died from a serious and infectious illness, so there is a risk of exposure for everyone who was there. The local hospital is treating it pretty seriously and have set-up a drop-in clinic for anyone who might have been exposed to to get checked out.
I don't know the poor woman but at we were sitting with her brother and his wife, so there is probably a genuine reason to at least be checked and eliminated?
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.