My new mantra

Since I last updated you all, some things have happened. I told one fella I felt uncomfortable with the amount of correspondence he wanted before we even met, and he got upset and never contacted me again. Not a big loss.

I have gotten the big blow off from the Twitter fella.

I went to brunch with a nice guy. No sparks flew, but he seemed nice and I wouldn't be surprised if we hung out again. Dropped the F-bomb though. I don't understand on what universe that's appropriate.

Was asked out by another guy via the interwebs, but I think there is a chance that he is a foot fetisher. Not sure what I think about that. Definitely a first!

All this to say, I have been a bit discouraged, but the other day I found myself telling me something over and over that is obvious, but clearly I needed to be reminded.

I am more than who I date!

One of the major downfalls of this little experiment and blog is that I feel like I'm trying too hard, and thoughts of relationships are taking up more than my normal mind-share. But life is good, and I'll keep repeating my mantra as needed. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Half-way there

I'm half-way through dating detox. It's definitely been a good process, but not easy.

Today I got very lonely all of the sudden. I was suddenly flooded with memories of how good it felt to be dating someone. The companionship and fun of it all.

The tricky thing is that it made me miss my ex! But I was able to distinguish the fact that it wasn't him I missed, but the idea of a relationship. How many bad relationships are started and perpetuated (and returned to!) because of loneliness?

I'll stay strong, no worries. Two and a half more weeks until I can even think about dating again. But until then, I still have plenty to work out within myself.

Non-Negotiable #2- Respectful

Non-Negotiable #2- RESPECTFUL

Men I date must be respectful to:
-Me
-Himself
-His family
-My family
-His friends
-My friends
-His coworkers
-People in the service industry
-People who he disagrees with
-Etc....

I realize this should probably be a given for all relationships, but I feel the need to state it and expand upon it given some of my past experiences.

Once upon a time, I dated a guy and soon after we started dating, I noticed he was very disrespectful to his roommate. Shoulda been a red flag. Then we went on a road trip with some of his best friends and I saw how he treated them. Another red flag. So when the day (quickly) came that he was treating me disrespectfully, I shouldn't have been surprised. I forgave/ignored it away as long as I could, until it was just impossible.

But to me, respect also extends beyond the inner circle and is truly a deep-seeded character trait that impacts how they treat everyone, especially people or ideas that are outside their circle of experience. I love to broaden my horizons and learn about new ideas, and people who are closed off to that type of thing usually are so because of a lack of respect.

Also, it's so important to respect yourself. Men who don't respect themselves will often take it out on those around them, so a healthy self-respect is a foundational trait indicates maturity and stability.

Only 3 more!