Over the weekend, I talked to two girl friends who are mourning their last breakups still - one is 4-5 months later for a relationship that lasted a bit over a year. One thing they have in common? They were dumped by the guys.
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.
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.
Jitterbug said:Over the weekend, I talked to two girl friends who are mourning their last breakups still - one is 4-5 months later for a relationship that lasted a bit over a year. One thing they have in common? They were dumped by the guys.
Yeah one of those I talked to is a 30 y.o who has pretty much taken herself off the market after she lost a guy she was deeply into in a LTR and he recently got married.jophil28 said:MY experience is that a loss of a significant relationship deeply scars women, often permanently. Relationships are their currency. A marriage or LTR which fails is as painful and damaging to most women as the sudden loss of a lifetime career would be to us.
Exactly right..women APPEAR to move on easily, and they can APPEAR to do so because they just call up the next chump in line who is grateful to get his shot.guru1000 said:If you have options, you would APPEAR to have moved on just as quickly.
Women are natural plate spinners so it may seem they are ruthless in moving on to the next chapter. Truth be told, she is just refilling the ego tank with the next readily available YES man.
No need to worry. Once her ego tank is full, she will drop him and call you.
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.
don't make the mistake thinking that all women are like this. Having said that, the women that tend to drive men to post Here, generally speaking, are like this. IOW, it's not women. It's YOUR woman.vorbis said:I posted here a few weeks back about how I knew I had to break up with my gf over her cheating. Well, we fully broke up there what 2 weeks ago.
She rang me today over tying up some loose ends and already she is dating someone else. I'm fairly sure that she has known him since the start of January (setting up the next branch I suspect).
Tbh, I'm no longer in love with her but the sheer speed she's moved on has definitely dented my ego a bit. When I first tried to break up with her the first week of January she went crazy and was begging me to stay. The final breakup was more mutual and we just ceased all contact.
For me personally, I just can't imagine dating someone else so soon after a ltr. As in actual dating now not hookups. It really does bring home some of the points on this board. Its my first experience of seeing someone move on at the snap of a finger. Frankly I'd take longer to get over my sports team not winning!
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.
Who is Murray Bowen ? Another self help genius trying to make a living by stating the obvious ?darkstarrr said:Another priceless thread guys. Thank you.
Emotional Cutoff a la Murray Bowen
"Emotional cutoff refers to the mechanisms people use to reduce anxiety from their unresolved emotional issues with parents, siblings, and other members from the family of origin. To avoid sensitive issues, they either move away from their families and rarely go home; or, if they remain in physical contact with their families, to avoid sensitive issues, they use silence or divert the conversation. Though cutoff may diminish their immediate anxiety, these unresolved problems contaminate other relationships, especially when those relationships are stressed.
The opposite of an emotional cut-off is an openly communicative relationship. It is a very effective way to reduce a family's over-all anxiety. Continued low anxiety permits motivated family members to begin the slow steps to better differentiation."
He was one of the most important clinical psychologist/psychiatrists in American history. His work led to what we consider today as EQ - emotional quotient (as opposed to IQ).jophil28 said:Who is Murray Bowen ? Another self help genius trying to make a living by stating the obvious ?
OH, him !darkstarrr said:He was one of the most important clinical psychologist/psychiatrists in American history. His work led to what we consider today as EQ - emotional quotient (as opposed to IQ).
It's not that women are necessarily "pursuing" options because they really don't have to. Men are the ones who have to put some kind of effort in to spin plates, women just "present" themselves and we're all over the place waiting to pounce on them. That's their advantage, that's why they usually always have someone to fall back on. We make it effortless for them.STR8UP said:When I am in a relationship, even if things aren't "perfect", I'm not looking for "options". I am in a goddamned relationship. Something that I have INVESTED myself in. I'm not looking to "swing branches".
Agreed, but I think it's because they get used to always having someone around, so they make sure to keep it that way.STR8UP said:This is where men differ from women. Chicks are so deathly afraid of rejection and loneliness, that they are almost ALWAYS scanning the horizon. You can bet your ass that 9 out of 10 times when a woman dumps you she already has replaced you with someone else.
Honestly, because of the "work" involved, I think guys just get lazy when they're getting a regular piece, I think that's why guys get married, for something consistent. I'm not saying all we do everyday is think about f-cking women only, but damn it sure seems like it sometimes (maybe it's just me).STR8UP said:So yea, I agree that having options helps to soften the blow. But it just goes to show the nature of women is to ensure that she always has options, whereas a man holds his relationship with much higher regard in many cases.
Why would it be disrespectful? You make it sound like one should mourn the end of a relationship as if it were a death.STR8UP said:And I don't care how many options a person has....if you just spent the past year or two of your life with someone, it's pretty damn disrespectful in any capacity to be shacking up with someone else the next day or the next week.
The loss is especially damaging when the guy they lost eventually proved himself to be The Great Catch. From a dating column I read today:jophil28 said:I frequently chat to women who reveal that they are still mourning the loss of some guy/B/f/ badass husband.
Just because a woman appears to have moved on by jumping into another guys arms does not mean that she is cold and callous and lacks the capacity to deeply feels the loss.
MY experience is that a loss of a significant relationship deeply scars women, often permanently. Relationships are their currency. A marriage or LTR which fails is as painful and damaging to most women as the sudden loss of a lifetime career would be to us.
I don't think he was such a significant guy to her when they were in a relationship, but it's only when he became successful that she realised she actually dumped her Great Catch.Let me know if it is possible to forget someone.
I have a little scar on my neck left by the hot ash that fell from a joint that my man was smoking as I lay on his lap looking up lovingly into his eyes when I was 19. I am now 49. I left him when I was 21 and still don't know why, but I suspect it was because he was very driven and determined at the time and I was much younger than him, straight out of school and did not know what or who I was. He went on to become a legend in his field, I never smoked pot again after that night and he now lives ocean front, mega rich with his wife of 28 years and three lovely kids.
Me, well, three decades, three children, an ex husband and a good enough career later, and I still meet him every morning in the mirror when I see myself, and see the little white scar that reminds me, daily, of the only man I ever actually loved.
The other day, I talked to this woman who has not got over her ex yet and is pissed off that he moved on too quickly (well, 4 months later isn't exactly quick in my book) and is dating someone else. I told her that if my ex (she knows her, and I just broke up with her a month ago) moves on quickly and finds some good guy, I'll be very happy for her. She was amazed. I explained: "What good does it do to me to see her suffer? I used to like her for a reason. Besides, if she moves on and is happy, she won't bother me anymore!"Pook said:...
Endure. All your exes will have one thing in common: they want you to fail. The last thing they want is to run into you later and see you successful. No! They want to see you remain the same or sink lower.
Endure. All the girls that shot you down: they want you to fail. A big fear in woman is missing The Great Catch. Give substance to their fear.
...
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 is why the best revenge is indeed, living well.Jitterbug said:The loss is especially damaging when the guy they lost eventually proved himself to be The Great Catch.
guru1000 said:If you have options, you would APPEAR to have moved on just as quickly.
Women are natural plate spinners so it may seem they are ruthless in moving on to the next chapter. Truth be told, she is just refilling the ego tank with the next readily available YES man.
No need to worry. Once her ego tank is full, she will drop him and call you.
I'm sorry, that was the sentimental sucker of a man in me talking again.Tazman said:Why would it be disrespectful? You make it sound like one should mourn the end of a relationship as if it were a death.
Not to toot my own horn here, but I am destined for greatness.Jitterbug said:I don't think he was such a significant guy to her when they were in a relationship, but it's only when he became successful that she realised she actually dumped her Great Catch.
She calls you when her car breaks down. When she needs help moving. When some guy she's actually dating treats her badly.
You're the listener. The reliable one. The guy who would treat her so much better, if she'd just open her eyes.
She won't. You trained her to see you as the low-effort option — the friend who requires zero risk and zero investment. Every favor dug the hole deeper.
The "22 Rules" break the pattern. You'll stop auditioning for a role she already cast and become the man she chases instead. It starts with Rule 1.