Still Navigating

[Dawn70]

The more I read, the more I think that I'm an outlier which TBH doesn't surprise me much.

I knew I liked you for some reason, Andrew. I like outliers. Some women like bad boys, but its those outliers that get me every time.

As far as guys who expect sex on the first, second, x date - yeah - that's a thing. I know that it's not 1954. You see a few here who aren't like that though so I hope it gives you some different perspective that "not all guys are the same". I'm (more or less) voluntarily celibate because I have ugly wallpaper and haven't gotten close enough to anyone to make that irrelevant. Doodler perhaps because he would hate to show up for a date in the same outfit as his date had chosen.

Not sure if this was helpful or not - but it is a different perspective from the (seemingly large) number of men here who before the ink is dry on their divorce are jumping into dating and new relationships.

I second what Andrew says that not all guys are the same. It is easy to try to lump like with like and I hear men do the same thing to women and lump them all together, but the fact of the matter is that we are ALL individuals. Now, having said that, I think some of us....well, I'll just speak for myself here....I think I sometimes tend to want to lump men together because I tend to be attracted to and attract similar men who are rather similar to each other. When I look at the men I've been with, dated, been interested in...REALLY look at tthem....they all fall within some very typical behavioral and attitudinal (is that even a word?) parameters that could easily cause me to just say ALL men are this way when that is not reality. I said it in one of my other posts though, that perception = reality, so if it is my perception that all men are the same based on the fact that I choose similar men, then does it not stand to reason that my reality would be that all men are the same? I know I'm rambling with a lot of pseudo psycho babble there and I'm not a psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist (nor do I play one on tv), but the short point I'm trying to make with this very long rambling is that I think sometimes men and women both tend to want to lump ALL men or ALL women into one big category based on our own personal experiences. I think it is Don who has pointed out several times that you can't continue to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Spot on!

G, I have said before and I'll say again and I think everyone on your posts has said something very similar. You are awesome. You are a catch. You have great value and worth as a strong, independent woman. It's ok to want an R or just want a fling that makes you feel good. H3ll, it is ok to want an R with HC, but realize that he is not in a place right now to reciprocate that. It's ok to go for what you want, but in that pursuit of happiness, you sometimes have to proceed with caution, keep an open mind and really listen to what is going on around you.

Go out there and enjoy your weekend with your D10 and your friends and just live it up. Live your best life and let those whom you want to bring along for the ride enjoy it with you.