Dating skills

When He’s Not Doing What you Want

You’re waiting for a man to follow through from your last date. He mentioned that he’s always wanted to check out ax throwing and that you could go together, but you haven’t heard a peep from him since the date.

Or when you’ve been dating for a while and it bothers you that after the first date he’s expecting you to pay for half of everything. You’d feel better if he paid for most things because it makes you feel romanced and relaxed in your feminine.

Or you’ve been dating for 9 months and you’ve thought a lot about marrying this guy. But he has not mentioned or brought up one thing about the future nor shown an interest to even lock you down for a committed relationship.

Or how your partner never takes out the trash out when it’s full vs. when it’s completely overflowing and smelly.

If he would just…….

  • text me to follow up on what he said

  • lead and pay for dates

  • initiate the idea of exclusivity

  • take out the trash without me having to remind him

……then I would feel better—I’d feel more secure or happy or loved. etc.

There are times to bring things up and ask for what you want in relationships.

But more often than not these points of frustration are a warning sign that it’s time to take your focus off him and put it back on what you can control. You are the author of creating happiness in your life and a good relationship adds to that happiness.

If it has snuck up on you that your sense of well-being is riding on a man’s specific behavior, that can not only ruin your mood, but it also can be a de-motivating turn off for men.

When we are wanting a specific behavior from anyone and basing our hapiness on it, then we are seeking happiness outside of our control. Instead of believing that God’s gift of life and the joy we create by the decisions we make are the source of our contentment, we put pressure on those around us to be responsible for our happiness, which was never their responsibility to begin with.

Of course, healthy relationships have conditions and standards so that both people feel like they can get their needs met. Yet it’s important that those come as desires and requests vs. heavy unspoken demands. These will feel energetically different.

Here are a couple of ways it will feel when we are outsourcing our happiness to a man.

  • You feel anxious and unable to focus on your everyday tasks

  • You become reactive to him in a way that feels like over the top for the situation

  • You spend a lot of energy setting the guy up to do what you want him to do, ie. start the commitment conversation or “check-in” by text to see if everything is ok

  • Your mind is fixated on this outcome, your girlfriends have heard about it multiple times

All of these feel heavy and are an energy suck.

Instead of noticing when you desire a different experience and it feels light and worthy of being met.

When we have a desire for a man to show up in a certain way, but we are not attached to the outcome and we don’t let the outcome define us, we are more likely to express ourselves in ways that feel lighter to a man.

We’ll think things like:

“It would feel so nice if a man texted me after a date to plan our next date before I even thought about it, but if not I’ll go out with my girlfriends and not worry about it.”

“I would feel secure if a man shared his thoughts about me for his plans for us in the future, but I trust that I’ll make good decisions for my life if I don’t see signs of this relationship moving in that direction.”

“I would feel so trusting if my husband took the trash out regularly with out it overflowing and I never needed to mention it, but if not I’ll just put it in places so it doesn’t bother me and he doesn’t forget.”

When we think this way, it feels authentically lighter. We are trusting and believing that we have our best interest at heart and that if a man doesn’t meet our standards, we’ll make a good decision to either make a request, make a compromise or let the relationship go.

There is a core belief that even if he doesn’t do X, it doesn’t take an ounce of validation away from my worth. I can always accept or reject his actions.

I invite you to think about a current situation where you’re wanting a man’s behavior to be different.

Then ask yourself:

What would I feel if that situation changed?

What would I gain from that result?

What would it confirm or validate about me?

What feelings would it cause me to avoid feeling?

When you have the answers to those questions, then you’ll know where you can begin to attend to your feelings, you’ll know what you need and how you can take your focus away from that man doing X. Instead ask yourself, how can I help myself feel the way I want to feel based on what I can control, to create happiness from the inside out?

If you’d like support in walking through your relationship challenge to get to the core of what’s making your experiences heavy vs. light in your dating and relationship, reach out here to schedule an initial chat to see how I’d support you to maximize your happiness.

As I Graduate: Three Things I've Learned About Relationships

Celebrating Graduation via Zoom

Celebrating Graduation via Zoom

Looking at my track record with relationships, it’s too bad that I didn’t stumble upon The Relationship School earlier in life. With good reason, their tagline is “the most important education you never received in school”. I grew up with the cultural mindset that relationship skills just automatically update as we mature, only when I found myself wrestling with the paralyzing fear of rejection and unsure of how to navigate it in relationships, I figured I missed the update.

It’s assumed that we pick up relationship skills naturally from our family of origin. And we do. We pick up our caregivers best attempts to pass on what they know. And sometimes what they know is hit or miss when it comes to entering and keeping a healthy, long-term relationship.

Maybe you can relate if you’ve been kicking yourself because you haven’t been able to pull off this healthy relationship thing—all the while you’ve never really learned how to do it. It seems cruel to fault ourselves for guidance we lacked.

That’s why making time to study relationship skills from great mentors and practicing skills in a safe context with classmates felt very empowering. I experienced what a difference it makes to feel more at ease in myself and communicate in a way that can be received better by others.

As I made my way towards graduation to receive my certification as a Relationship Coach last weekend, I wanted to honor my time at The Relationship School by sharing three (of the many!) of insights that I gained about relationships.

Everybody’s Got Flaws, Embrace Yours

If you are remotely self-reflective and a member of the human race, you are aware that you have at least one weak area when it comes to relationships. The trouble is, us self-aware types can spend a lot of energy working to eliminate our weaknesses or try to manage them so that they don’t slip out and cause us to lose connection. I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to fake perfectionism only to push people away. However, not only are my flaws a part of me, but having the particular set of flaws that I do has allowed me to get stronger in other ways as I’ve had to navigate life with them.

For example, I fear speaking up in a group setting for fear of being judged. As I practiced doing this more and more, I found greater self-confidence in facing my fear that I wouldn’t survive others’ criticism. My peers also got to watch me with pride as I stepped into this area of growth. I realize that the fear of speaking up in a group may never fully subside, but I embrace that the work I need to do to face it is building my own feelings of self-competence. As a result I can love myself there and have a lot more compassion for others working with their flaws.

Instead of Focusing on People Disappointing You, Own Your Part

As someone who can get easily ruffled by the other person not meeting my expectation in a relationship, I’ve learned how important it is to take space to evaluate my part in any dynamic that I’m experiencing. If I am focused too much on how the other person isn’t living up to my expectations I will be disappointed most of the time. However, if I look into what part I played, I have the control to change me. That leads me to feeling empowered and helps me to avoid feeling at the mercy of everyone else’s opinions or behaviors to define myself.

So when I start to get frustrated because a guy I’m dating hasn’t texted me back in 24 hours, instead of presuming I’m not valuable, I can examine why I’m so upset. I may be upset because I gave my power over to him to define me by what actions he takes. Or maybe I didn’t share my preferences about what is important for me and I’m expecting him to read my mind. If I can tune into my own feelings, investigate and work on my own stuff, it brings clarity to be able to communicate better—instead of stewing in frustration.

Feel Shaky? Lead with Vulnerability

Lastly, one of the most helpful and challenging lessons I’ve learned is that when I feel shaky to communicate something challenging with another person, it’s good to lead with vulnerability. When we open with vulnerability, it allows the other person to see us authentically and invites them to meet us with authenticity. It opens a door for them to respond compassionately and honestly when it may be a difficult conversation to have.

It could look like,“I’m feeling awkward about continuing in the silence right now when I sense we’re a both feeling big feelings, it feels scary to break the silence, could I share with you what’s coming up for me right now?” When we name what’s going on for us, it’s helps to diffuse the intensity of what we’re feeling so that we can stay grounded as we go on to share our thoughts and feelings with someone. So try it!—next time you’re about to bring up something challenging with a boss or partner, lead with, “Hey, I’m feeling nervous to share this with you…”

Learning these skills at first is like acquiring knowledge that takes time to practice until I can embody the concepts and feel their full benefit in my relationships. As a Relationship School graduate I am so grateful for the skills I’ve learned, more grateful for the friends I’ve met and most grateful for the experience of relationship coaching that has helped me to transform my relationships, with myself and others—so that now I can help you experience transformation in yours.

If you’re curious to experience relationship coaching and move past a place you feel stuck in your relationships on your own. Save your spot for a complimentary first session here.