Vulpine
Master Don Juan
Heh, me too. But, it's on her. She'll leave him sweat for like a week, watch.
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.
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.
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.
Anyone have any interpretations? Apparently my response got under her skin. I will not be replying, I'm sure I'll get a few more from her. Maybe I should reply and be like "Oh... I was just kidding about wanting to be friends... I really want nothing more from you."I think it's ironic how you say you want to be friends but....good luck in your future and it was nice meeting you? all in one message? a bit contradictory don't ya think...
MBS, I have to point out that you missed it again.Mind_Body_Soul said:In conclusion...
I just got a text from her
"I'm sorry, but I don't think NY is a good idea yet. Just wanted to let you know."
To which I replied!
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.
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.
Exactly. Latinoman calls this "hibernation mode." That's why the first 2 months AT LEAST shouldn't even be taken into consideration in an LTR. The true testing phase begins once the endorphins wear off and she starts coming out from hibernation a few months down the road - and revealing her true colors.Sir Drinksalot said:Laurence Shannon calls this "The Chameleon Syndrome" in his book The Predatory Female. She becomes exactly what you want her to be - for a little while. It's not real. Just like I did, you're tellng yourself you can get back to this place and make it your norm. You can't. It's not the real her. She can't maintain the charade. Shannon calls it "Chafing in her temporary exterior." This is also symtpomatic of a persoalilty disorder called "borderline," which she may have in addition to depression.
After 4 or 5 months, stuff started happening to me that is now happening to you. She swears she wants to be in a LTR, but suddenly an AFC loser she tortured before me (she swore it stopped at making out) resurfaces. Don't kid yourself, this is because she gave him an "in" and encouraged it - just like yours (If she didn't encourage it, take his calls, respond to his IMs, he wouldn't bother). I took more crap for the next few months than I care to admit. In the end I gave her an ultimatum, she gave the chump the Heisman, and we went on. But it was never the same. Not even close. Boom, ten years of my life down the drain.
But you can't have a stable relationship with an unstable person. Be strong, and leave.
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.