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.
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.
Stay strong man! Maybe go for a walk or a jog and leave your phone at home? I work quite a physical job and the sheer excruciating effort of working in long hot days really helped me work through a lot of anger. After work for a time at least I feel above her, better than her and ultimately sorry for her that she just lost a great guy ad she doesn't even know it yet!SayWhat said:Day 4
Just saw her in her car driving too work. I almost turned around and drove there to talk too her. Luckily didn't do it.
Gonna be a bad day, I have nothing to do so my mind will go haywire.
Goddamn how can someone go from over the top in love to basically acting like you're the worst being on the planet.
I feel close to sending her something.
Defense mechanism. It would eventually drive her insane if she were to continuously entertain thoughts such as "I can't believe I let go of such a catch", so she has to repeatedly tell herself that you're a loser, that you're beneath her, that she can clearly do better, that she deserves better etc., and you know what? It's not such a bad idea for you to follow suit and paint her black yourself.SayWhat said:Goddamn how can someone go from over the top in love to basically acting like you're the worst being on the planet.
I could talk to any woman I wasn't attracted to. Charming, funny, relaxed. Then a gorgeous woman looked my way and I'd become a sweating, babbling mess.
The fix took me years to find and ten minutes to learn. Nervousness and excitement are the same physical state — pounding heart, adrenaline, flushed face. Your brain just picks the label. And you can pick a better one.
Rule 16 shows you how. You feel the nerves, relabel them as excitement, and let that energy pour out as enthusiasm. Women notice the guy radiating it. They always do.
We've been there before, or I have anyway.sowhat said:ok guys, i admit. i suck.. i was sto stupid and in denial that i made all the mistakes despite reading all this **** here.. the reason is that i couldn't stand her ****ing with some other dude. now i know, so i hope i will freaking start my day one and grow some balls finally, i was never this guy, always strong but this just ruined me beyond my recognition. she is enjoying it i know because she is a manipulative biatch.. she is blocked, she is done. but my biggest fear is how not to contact her , i know her number in my head god damn it. i already said some of the nastier things i can imagine, the funny thing she responds, she responds to the message when i say she is a ****ing slut, because she knows it's truth..
i moved from a city here in a village because i lost my job and don't have much to do. can't stop thinking about the *****.. can't think about sex with other girls while i'm this way... wtf, i just want to heal and forget her, get her out of my life for good.. mother****ing *****.
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.
Wise words.Between_The_Lines said:I suppose you can say I broke NC a few hours ago, because a girl I'm friends with on Instagram is a mutual friend of my ex's and so any pics that she "likes" will show up on my feed (assuming the profile is public). This mutual friend liked one of her pics, I clicked on the thumbnail, and saw a pic of my ex for the first time in several months.
I always thought she looked quite well for her age (she turns 30 in just over 2 months), but it very subtly appeared like there was a tug of war going on between her 20s and the approaching 30s visible on her face. It's difficult to describe, as if I could see an old(er) woman taking shape one moment, then a bit more youthful, late 20s girl would resurface a second later, a constant back and forth for as long as I stared. When we were together, she used to tell relatives that she was in no rush to pump out kids, that she had another decade or so before that took place. I think she was grossly miscalculating - I'd say she's only a handful of years away tops from slamming into the wall.
It will be 8 months since we parted ways very soon, basically the length of our relationship when we were together. I can't remember the last event that had such a strong impact on my life - even the death of a very close family member almost a year ago didn't rattle me to the core like the break up did, I'm ashamed to admit (goes to show how entranced and myopically beta I was in that relationship, I suppose) . Looking back since the time that we split, I've received many observations from others, a ton of feedback, that confirms that a massive change has taken place, that I am gradually changing, that I'm a bit different from who I was before. I still carry a small amount of resentment toward her, but all the theory I've consumed together with time and other girls steadily continues to bring it down closer and closer to nil. Knowing how she is, I strongly suspect she has nothing but hate and contempt for me. I (now) have a much better understanding of how the game works, so I don't hold that against her - it's expected. In my wildest dreams would I have imagined that such a bland girl (with a cute face, nice body and a golden pvssy, I should add) would have such a colossal impact on my life. Maybe I'll thank her some day in the future, years from now..
To the new members struggling with NC, torn up inside, facing hell day in and day out, grappling with the demons that follow a gut-wrenching break up, you have my word, with enough determination and perseverance, this is what you have to look forward to: an irregular but inevitable ascension in character and life. Don't give up.
She asks it casually, mid-sip. And you feel the floor open up, because the honest answer is work, gym, and a couple shows you're half-watching.
Women rarely say this out loud, but a man with a life is attractive before he says a word. The guy who spent Saturday deep-sea fishing and came back with photos and a story — he walks in already interesting.
The "22 Rules" pushed me to build a life worth talking about. Turns out the fastest way to be interesting to women is to be interested in your own life first.
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.