Turn Ons: I finally feel armed with a pretty good defense against players. In fact, I dare a man to play me now!
Turn Offs: It showed me my relationship flaws, damn it!
Rate My Date:
- Not My Type
- 1 Night Stand
- Crush
In Love
- Happily Ever After
Let's face it. Dating is complicated. At least for me it is. After all, I haven't dated since the turn of the century. And now that I'm "back on the market" I'm facing singlehood as a "cougar" in a world where Match.com and OkCupid have replaced the more traditional approaches of making a love connection.
Add to that, my emotional baggage from unsuccessful past relationships, including a failed marriage and the stigma of divorce. HELP! So I turned to the wisdom of stand-up comic, Steve Harvey, in his book "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man". No, he doesn't have a PhD in psychology or even claim to be a relationship expert but, when it comes to describing the simple needs and nature of men, I think he's dropping pure wisdom. For example, he clearly outlines a man's basic pre-requisites for even contemplating a committed relationship; let alone puttin' a ring on it. And he emphasizes the importance of women coming up with our own set of pre-requisites too. Then, when we're emotionally ready for a relationship, we should know exactly what we want and need from a man before pursuing one. And those needs should be communicated up-front rather than hoping a dude can read our minds. Not only does it give him a chance to decide if he's even up for the task; but it saves us the futile undertaking of trying to mold him.
I also loved Steve's insider tips on identifying whether a man is only in it for the "cookie" or if he's genuinely interested in us as girlfriend material. Oh, and speaking of the "cookie", he gives some pretty persuasive arguments for not giving it up until dude has passed a probationary period of 90 days. Yep, three full months before givin' up the goodies, ladies! Mr. Harvey obviously doesn't know how long I've been holding out since my divorce. I hope I can make it 90 days!
So, all that's left is for me to do now is set up my Match.com profile (sigh) and test his theories.
