Archives for January 2013

Is it Ever Ok to Date a Friend’s Ex?

January 31, 2013 By

I remember the day well.  I was standing on the side of the football field watching my seven old son battle it out on the first day of hitting at football practice.

My girlfriend (a single mom) looked over at my brand new ex-husband who was coaching the boys, then glanced at me at me and sighed wistfully.  “You know, if he wasn’t your ex-husband I wouldn’t mind going out with him.”

Huh?  Awkward!

I gave her “the look” and my friend wisely chose to zip it and never bring it up again.

But in a world of broken marriages and relationships, these questions come up all too often.

Is it ever acceptable to date a friend’s ex?

Every situation is different, but here are some considerations to keep in mind…

  • How close is your relationship with the friend?  Are you willing to risk tension?  Good friends have each other’s back… they don’t blind side them with a secret relationship.  Having a conversation with your friend before pursuing the ex shows respect for the friendship and consideration of their feelings.  It also shows maturity.
  • How long has the relationship been over?  If it’s been years (like a high school relationship) it may not be a big deal, but if the divorce or break-up is painfully fresh, you may want to reconsider opening this can of worms.
  • Did the relationship with the ex end on good terms?  If your friend dated in an honorable fashion and the pain of the breakup is minimal, they might even recommend their ex to you as a better personality fit. 
  • How healthy is the ex?  What were the reasons they decided to end the relationship?  Do your homework.  If addictions, abuse, adultery or serious character defects caused the breakup, then stay far away from the charming train-wreck.  You were warned.
  • Would your friend cringe if you got married?  Could you hang out with your friend without it being too uncomfortable? Would she poison his popcorn if you came over for a Super Bowl shindig?
  • Ask yourself why you want to date them?  Is it because there is a true relational spark (beyond the physical) and you can’t help yourself, or is it possible you are passively getting back at your friend for an unspoken hurt or disappointment? Search your heart, pray about it and make sure YOUR intentions are above-board.

In more recent years, two of my girlfriends chose to date an ex-boyfriend of mine(strangely enough…the same guy).  But because we were all on good terms, it never became an issue and the friendships have stayed strong even though both of the women ultimately decided to end the relationship. 

What do you think about dating a friend’s ex?

Photo Source: heartit.com via Lisa on Pinterest

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Filed Under: Dating Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Textamacy – How Social Media is Accelerating Relational Intimacy

January 25, 2013 By

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Our 14-year-old son wanted only one thing for Christmas this year.

And I am sure that we weren’t the only parents who acquiesced to our child’s desire for an iPhone.

Apple sold 125 million of them in 2012.

Until now, kids didn’t have access to instant communication with their friends. Yes, they could call people on the phone, but for this generation, it isn’t fast or wide-ranging enough. Kids today want to communicate through text messages or broadcast their thoughts to an ever-listening world.

We live in a social media age.

In fact, this generation might be coined the “Social Media Generation” not unlike the Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers of the past. Texting, Smart Phones, Facebook and Twitter have changed communication in our world forever.

When something big happens around us, we no longer wait to see it on the evening news; we reach for our iPhone/Pad or our Android device of choice to check in on what’s happening. This cultural shift hasn’t just altered the way we get our information; it has radically changed the way we communicate with one another.

This brings us to the world of dating and our desire for immediate gratification. We are now conditioned by smart phones and social media outlets to seek instant intimacy.  It’s no big deal to spill personal details on Facebook to an audience of thousands.

Now when I was a kid in the midst of puberty, I wanted to engage in intimate conversations with women too, I just didn’t have the opportunity.

I had to use the home telephone (remember the push-button dial-up attached to the wall?) and ask the girl’s parents if I could engage in conversation with their daughter.
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And none of those conversations were private, so getting intimate wasn’t an option. Not so today.

We-my wife and I, began to look into the texting patterns of our first-born, to see what was happening in this new social media paradigm. What we found was alarming, and very telling about how intimacy is building in our modern culture.

We inadvertently stumbled upon a conversation (ok we snooped…) that had happened for all of eleven days. The first text was innocent… the girl responded “who is this?”

Eleven days and over 1,000 texts later, they were talking about how they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

Until day nine, the two had never spent a minute alone together. But on day nine, they attended a friend’s fifteenth birthday party at Laser Quest, a laser tag facility at the local mall. And it was on day nine that the two found themselves in a lip-lock inside the dimly lit maze illuminated by black lights and fluorescent bulbs.

Shocking, I know… from zero to intimate in nine days.

When we found out what was happening and unpacked the past eleven days, our son admitted the conversation just kind of went out of control. He said it was easy to say things he never would have said in person or with other people around. The conversation became provocative and arousing and he couldn’t help himself.

An interesting thing happened in the aftermath. When the conversation came to light and the texting stopped, the two found themselves in an awkward position.

They had a lot of enticing conversations, but they really didn’t know each other. They knew little things about each other, but they didn’t know each other. They fell for the image the other person expressed and their own imagination filled in any blanks.

This created a false reality that seemed flawless.

But when they actually began interacting with each other in person, they soon realized the image they portrayed in the texting relationship didn’t match reality. They found they didn’t have much in common and their personalities weren’t a good match.

They still see each other at school, but the enticement is gone and the relationship is over. And this intrigued me…

In a society where social media and texting are the primary ways of communication and a majority of singles have tried online dating, are we really getting to know the people we date, or are we just getting to see the online persona they want to portray?

And do we really want to know the person we date or are we content pursuing someone’s false image because it’s uncomplicated and desirable?
And we wonder why so many of our dating relationships end in disappointment?

Many of these disappointments are inevitable because we cross the threshold of sexual intimacy before we know the person we are with.

As social media and texting have propelled our access to intimacy, it seems as though we are becoming content with false intimacy.

We settle for crumbs instead of a real relationship.

I imagine Manti Te’o would admit he fell hook, line and sinker for this idea of false intimacy.

Have you?

Photo Source: Rodale.com

Filed Under: Dating Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why You Should Let Him Open the Door

January 18, 2013 By

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It’s not easy for the modern gal to let a man lead.

Women today bring home the bacon, cook it up in the pan and have no problem asking men out.  They are capable and competent.  Ladies can successfully manage and control their own lives and careers, so letting anyone -other than their boss take charge is downright painful.

But men have no desire to woo a women who doesn’t need them.  Dudes like to lead and they really like a woman who allows them to exercise this muscle.

But how does an assertive single woman let a man take the lead in dating?

According to Hayley and Michael Dimarco, authors of Cupidity some simple steps are all it takes:

  • Letting Him Plan and Pay for Dates

By giving a guy some space to initiate, a woman may be doing herself a favor in the long run.  Guys tend to get passive when women take over, so unless a woman wants to coordinate all of her dates in the future, allowing a guy to make reservations and plan their outings benefits her too.

  • Let Him Control the Speed of the Relationship

Unless a guy is proposing on the third date, let him set the pace so you can relax and enjoy the ride of getting to know each other.  Occasionally, a DTR(T) talk may be necessary (define the relationship-timeframe) if it’s been over a year of dating, or a quick pump of the brakes if he ‘s moving too fast…but generally speaking, let the guy keep his foot on the pedal and don’t be a backseat driver.

  • Let Him Get the Door

What?  Is opening the door a big deal?  Well, in a way…yes!  Letting a guy feel useful and necessary in the little things can pay big dividends in the overall relationship.  Men have a protective instinct.  Allow them to use it.

These are some small tips to allow a guy to take the lead when dating.

What do you think? 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Dating Tagged With: , , , ,

Text Me, Maybe?

January 10, 2013 By

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Smartphones are supposed to make our lives easier, right?

We can work and socialize 24/7. It’s instant access all the time.

But in the dating realm this idea of non-stop “availability” backfires.

They need to add a warning label to the little white Apple box.

*Although communication at the speed of light may be beneficial it can also be harmful to relationships. Text and post with caution*

The truth is, humans aren’t meant to know and pursue each at the speed of Facebook and instant messaging.

Here’s the challenge of texting in the first stage of a relationship.

Men love a chase. Women love to talk. Add in texting and it’s a recipe for disaster.

Scenario 1: A guy messages a gal. Within two seconds she responds with a series of three dings, because her response has exceeded the data limits for any one message.

The guy texts back, using all the words he has to communicate in a day on her, and she responds back instantly with another five-paragraph essay.

After a few days or weeks of this text exchange, the guy starts getting carpal tunnel syndrome in his thumbs and then begins to lose interest in the woman, feeling bogged down by all the emotional effort upfront.

“She” can’t understand why all of a sudden after a week or two of heated pursuit he now seems distant and the messages are becoming more sporadic. So she responds even faster to his messages until they run dry and then stop altogether.

And then she scratches her head and wonders “what went wrong?”

But if she played her Smartphone cards a little more strategically, she might get a different response.

Scenario 2: A guy messages a gal. Four hours later she responds. During that four hours the guy thinks about her and wonders what she is doing. He can’t keep his mind on his work and he is now intrigued with her even more. Repeat…

When she does respond to his text, it is both sincere and concise. And while she certainly doesn’t play games, she knows that “too available” is not desirable.

The man falls for her hook, line and sinker and a year later she can text her girlfriends all she wants of her preferences for neon pink bridesmaids dresses.

Why being “too available” is not a good thing.

Imagine trying to play a game of hide and seek and the person hiding stands right behind the seeker shouting “here I am” every time they play the game. After a while the seeker would give up because the person hiding is no fun to play with. In fact, they are downright annoying. There is no suspense, no investment and ultimately “no finding” which is always the best part of the game.

But this is what women do with technology. We over-do it by being constantly available and destroy a budding relationship when its fragile and without roots. We “oh so covertly” cyber-stalk and linger on his Facebook Page wondering who he is talking to and freaking out about every girl who posts on his timeline.

Insecurity is not pretty, but it’s really unattractive when the world reads it on Instagram.

Men can fall into this trap too. If a woman feels stalked by too many posts or text messages, she will pull back and retreat. On the other hand a man might not communicate at all, thus leaving the gal feeling ignored. Finding the right balance of interest towards a woman without obsession or negligence is generally the best option.

FYI…Texting a girl after the second date, “where are you?” and “who are you with?” is a bad idea guys.

So, keep in mind the netiquette of dating well: text intentionally, turn off your “find me anywhere” button, become a good “hider” and play smarter than the average dater with your mobile device.

Have you had any bad texting experiences when dating someone new?

Filed Under: Dating Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Male Happy-o-Meter

January 2, 2013 By

One thing I have learned about men –they like their women happy. In fact, to some degree they feel personally responsible for making their girlfriends and wives happy.

It’s a guy thing.

When a romance is new and shiny a guy will go to great lengths to please his woman. He will talk and cuddle and buy her things. When she is happy he is happy.

And since women love to chat, the man will listen. But here is where it gets tricky and women often shoot themselves in the foot.

All too often we OVER COMMUNICATE.

Telling Him EVERYTHING is No Bueno

A woman feels so good after she verbally vomits all her emotions.

Chicks call it dumping. We dump our frustrations out on our besty and then she dumps in return and we listen and sigh and hug and feel soooo connected.

But when we do it with our men it backfires. A guy wants to fix and please and make his woman happy, but if the dumping is negative (and when is dumping ever positive?) the gal moves on feeling significantly better, but the man is left to sort out and process all her toxic emotions.

For every bundle of negativity a woman unloads, a man gets knocked down off of his happy horse. (Because guys take responsibility for their woman’s happiness, remember?).

When a woman criticizes a man or complains about something that might even have nothing to do with him, he feels responsible.

SSSHHH!!!

The Bible puts it this way, “Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.” Prov. 10:19 NLV

Understanding that women and men are designed differently will go a long way towards fostering peace in a relationship. Women need to be self-aware of their tendency to over-share and take their burdens to other women whom they can (safely) vent their emotions to, saving the truly fixable needs for their men.

The wise woman holds back her constructive criticism and is simply grateful for what her man actually does –thus upping his happy-o-meter and ultimately her own.

(Oh boy, do I sometimes get this wrong but I continue to repent after I blunder and try, try, try again…)

How to crank up the Happy-o-Meter

If my husband thinks I am happy then he is happy and free to go out and conquer the world, secure that his own little kingdom is running smoothly.

It gives a man great confidence to have a happy girlfriend or wife and that confidence will enable him operate at his full potential–thus blessing the very woman who helped him succeed–namely the woman.

And if a woman really needs to talk –giving her guy a warning with a “please could you just give me your ear for five minutes and I don’t need a solution” is highly recommended.

–Samantha

Do you agree or disagree?

Photo Source: bit.ly via Judith on Pinterest

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