I went through a tough experience with a girl I really liked recently that shook me up pretty good. There were really obvious and some really bad mistakes I made, and I'm not really asking about that. I understand how I messed up. What I'd like is some perspective on how "normal" this is, and what steps I should do to prevent it from happening again in the future.
The Girl
Observations
Hopefully you guys can share some perspective on this for me. I'd love to hear your advice.
metalbird
The Girl
I meet a girl. She pursues me initially, we hit it off very strongly, and I get emotionally invested pretty fast. My buddies tell me to stay detached, keep my roster going, etc, and I'm playing it cool. By the end of our second week together, I think my deeper feelings for her were beginning to show, despite me doing my best to hide it. This chick is very much a hard target, category 3 type of Chase's Article on Hot, Sane, Single Girls Under 30... in fact, she's at the very beginning of her sexual awakening phase, but she's a unicorn, and she knows it. I have a moment of insecurity and feel like I need to confront it head on, and I tell her, basically, "I like you, but I know I need to keep seeing other people, even though I don't want to". (Big mistake, I know.) A few days later, we meet up, and she says we should just be friends, because she's not looking for anything serious, and despite what I said, I clearly am. She likes me but she doesn't want either of us to get attached.
Honestly, I was devastated. I didn't sleep at all that night, I just laid in bed, numb. I went through a really rough period for the next two weeks or so, where I was really heartbroken over this girl. I couldn't help but talk my friends' ears off about it, to the point that I'm sure, by week two, they were sick of me bringing her up. Meanwhile, I'm still going out with other girls, but they pale in comparison to the unicorn. At the same time, I'm enjoying a huge confidence and momentum boost from having just had this unicorn experience, and I'm going through the average girls like Mario who just ate a flashing star. It was a weird time.
After a couple weeks of really going through it, I've made my peace with things, and I'm feeling better. Through random chance and weird circumstances, the unicorn winds up reaching out to me again. We meet up and talk, but the conversation doesn't go well, and she winds up walking away with a lot of negative emotion. That completely killed what remaining attraction she had towards me. I didn't go through any more really intense emotions like the first time, but it was pretty frustrating. It also left me feeling bitter, tired, and a bit humiliated. I'm at a point now where I just hope I never see her again, because it will bring up a lot of negative emotion if I ever run into her.
Honestly, I was devastated. I didn't sleep at all that night, I just laid in bed, numb. I went through a really rough period for the next two weeks or so, where I was really heartbroken over this girl. I couldn't help but talk my friends' ears off about it, to the point that I'm sure, by week two, they were sick of me bringing her up. Meanwhile, I'm still going out with other girls, but they pale in comparison to the unicorn. At the same time, I'm enjoying a huge confidence and momentum boost from having just had this unicorn experience, and I'm going through the average girls like Mario who just ate a flashing star. It was a weird time.
After a couple weeks of really going through it, I've made my peace with things, and I'm feeling better. Through random chance and weird circumstances, the unicorn winds up reaching out to me again. We meet up and talk, but the conversation doesn't go well, and she winds up walking away with a lot of negative emotion. That completely killed what remaining attraction she had towards me. I didn't go through any more really intense emotions like the first time, but it was pretty frustrating. It also left me feeling bitter, tired, and a bit humiliated. I'm at a point now where I just hope I never see her again, because it will bring up a lot of negative emotion if I ever run into her.
Observations
- I had an experience very similar to this happen once before, three or four years ago. That time it was actually worse. I swore after that time that I would never let it happen again, but the fact that it happened again is very troubling to me.
- I don't always get attached because a girl pursued or approached me first, but all of the times I have gotten attached in a seemingly unhealthy way, it was with a girl who pursued me in the beginning.
- I'm used to being the initiator; it feels very special when a girl expresses interest first.
- I'm used to being the one who wants to keep it casual while the girl wants something more serious. It feels very special when the reverse happens.
- I'm used to being the one who ends things. It feels very special when the opposite is true.
- I generally get involved with women who don't feel very special to me. I've been aware of this pattern for a long time, but I don't know what to do about it. I would love to "raise my standards", but I don't having a good way of meeting higher quality women in numbers, and the ones I do encounter, tend to be (perhaps naturally) much harder to connect with, and I can rarely even get a date from them.
- It feels wrong to still be struggling with this at my age (early thirties). Like, I get the feeling a healthy, mature man would have resolved these types of issues by now, and be secure and outcome-independent, etc.
- Fear of Abandonment: I suspect I struggle with this, but I don't really know what to do about it. Getting rejected/friendzoned by someone who seems "special" is really devastating to me; more so, it seems, than for the average person.
- Attachment Styles: I'm perfectly secure -- as long as I'm seeing women who doesn't feel that special or attractive to me, despite the fact that I might enjoy her company. As soon as girl strikes me a truly, deeply attractive, my attachment style becomes quite anxious.
- Personality Disorders: I've actually started to wonder if I might be a little cluster B. There's plenty of material on this site for spotting and avoiding cluster B women, and I've wondered over the years how much I might be dealing with something similar and just coping well or "high-functioning".
- How much of all of this is due to having a lifestyle as a member of the seduction community, and having a relatively wide range of experiences with women that give me a different perspective than the average guy?
- How much is the reverse true: Is my being drawn into the seduction community and having this wide range of experiences (ranging from satisfying to excruciating) due to unresolved issues within myself?
- Maybe the best thing to do is just keep doing what I've been doing -- improving my value as a man, meet more quality women, increase abundance mindset, and practice relationship management skills
- Maybe I would benefit from some type of dedicated therapy program, but I don't know what
- Maybe I should try microdosing with shrooms or acid, as some friends have recommended
- Maybe I should go on a trip with a full dose of shrooms or acid, with the intention of addressing this issue within myself, and possibly confronting some type of PTSD or something
Hopefully you guys can share some perspective on this for me. I'd love to hear your advice.
metalbird