Reader Input: Girl...Talk to ALL of THEM!

“I like cat and mouse games, but I have to be interested in you first.”

I know I have both men and women who come here because of the private messages I get from many of you, but more recently I have received so many messages from women sharing their dating stories and other experiences with men. So I do not know if this is a newer generation thing, but a few of you are telling me to talk to all the men who are interested in me and only get close to the one who stands out the most.

Okay, okay, those of you who are new here, you may have not picked up on this, but for the rest of you…You know I have strong morals, I may do certain things that are up for moral debate and I may say certain things in theory, but in practice I’m not out there like that.

People Say I Act Funny

Because I don't like to be bothered with every day. And I don’t like to be questioned why.

I’m someone who believes that sticking to your morals and values is what grants you the most blessings, but I’m not going to sit up here and say I've never done anything that was frowned upon. I’ve been in a situation where I didn't know certain pieces of information about someone and in lieu of it, I did things against my morals. But, since then I’ve prayed on it and I’ve forgiven myself and I do not regret anything that has transpired because I did have a lot of great times and through that experience and the experiences surrounding it, my views have changed about men…everything happens for a reason. And with that, I can’t let disappointments taint me or my abilities to be at peace and be happy. That’s a testament of my growth. People will be who they want to be, you decide how you want to be around them.

I say all of that to say that we can go through things that shape us to thinking and behaving in a way that we never thought we would. Although, I still cannot see myself having interest in more than one man. Don’t get me wrong, there are men I speak to who have interest in me, but the feelings are not mutual, so I keep a respectable distance with what I do and say to around them.

But hey, if this is what women are doing these days, don’t let me stop you from being great! I just cannot see myself going through my phone and having multiple conversations of “So what are you doing this weekend?” just to try to decide who I want to spend more time with. It seems like some of you ladies are ruthless. One of you went on 3 different dates with 3 different men in one week! Ma’am, I salute you, live your best life! So I’m just going to go through what some of you women have shared with me:

  • Talk to all the men, they’re doing the same thing with us!

    • That may be true, but it would not make me feel good to do that. Sometimes I get irritated when my phone goes off too much, so it would be too much tedious time wasted to share my interest to multiple people.

  • I met up with a man on Saturday and a different one on Sunday and I cannot decide who I like more so I am going to keep hanging out with both of them.

    • Oooo..see I can’t do that, I would feel guilty because then I am not really investing my attention on one person. That sounds fun. My conscience won’t let me do it.

  • I’m 26 and I go on as many dates as guys want to take me on. I tell them that I’m not looking for a relationship and they all seem to like that and some of the guys try harder to date me.

    • A few things here…YES, you are young, so be as free as you want to be. I think I recently saw a meme or caption that said, “Women in their 20s should be toxic.”…I do not know what all that means, but I was married during the bulk of my 20’s, I didn’t really start living for myself until my late 20s, early 30s. And I cannot say how I would have been if I was not married, because it was a different generation then. We did not have all these social outlets that’s available to us now. It was almost taboo to talk to strangers online and the term “Thirst Trap” relatively new where people show different types of pictures of themselves for likes. You have so many ways to meet people and it’s a normal concept. I used to meet people at house parties and we would write our phone numbers on napkins, but again, this was all before I was married and had children. Although, I was doing things in my high school years that people were doing on their college years…things worked a little faster in the northeast. If you know, you know.

  • I dated a lot of guys at one time, but I didn’t have sex with any of them. I wanted to see who I connected with better and now I am in a committed relationship with one of the guys.

    • Okay, I could see how this is viable. If you’re single and want something serious then you’ll go through the process of meeting different men to figure out who is the best of the bunch. But would that be the same way for me since I’m not looking to have a traditional relationship? I want to talk, spend time, hang out, go places, but I don’t want to merge everything about our lives. It told you, it’s Partner vs. Companion and I don’t want the paperwork. You can have me, but I’m not signing anything.

  • Just start dealing with someone you already dealt with before.

    • I feel like this thought is coming up more often these days amongst different groups of people. The things is, anyone who I have been with before, my views are different now and I don’t think any of them would understand or may take advantage of the whole companionship thing and mishandle it completely.

There were a lot more comments and suggestions, but this was the just of it. I get it ladies, I’m single, I have my standards, and I don’t want to play any games. I also don’t want to waste time.

I can't remember who said it to me, but one of my friends said, “Raya, don’t let any of these dudes out here try to tell you that you need to change anything about yourself especially if he’s not putting food on your table, paying any of your bills, and not calling you his woman. You can treat a man special, but don’t let him treat you like you're not.” My people aways big me up. Get you some people like this.

I Don't Date

I just observe if he’s worth my interest.

My dating life, I wouldn't even call it that. I meet people, if I like them, I meet them again, if I don't, I don’t. I’m not kissing anyone or sleeping with anyone. Listen, I may be too confident but I rather be that then not at all, but my Hello Kitty is too good to be touched by anyone.

Also, I’ve also developed a few turn offs recently:

  • E-cigarette or those smoke pens are not really attractive to me. It’s starting to resemble people who smoke cigarettes, like they can't go a day without one and they have to carry it everywhere with them.

  • People who like to talk about how good they used to have it when they made so much money doing things that were not legal. Like, okay sir, but did you developed any useful career skills from that?

  • Men who are too eager to get into relationships within the first few hours or days of knowing you. Why are you rushing?

  • Men who have newborns…there are so many concerns and unnecessary headaches with this one, so I just rather not entertain a man like this.

  • I don’t prefer men who take pride in receiving attention from just anyone. Have some self value.

  • And lose interest when men try hard to convince me they are "the catch", sir, if you are, you don’t have to tell me, let me learn that gradually. If our first few conversations are all about what type of man you are, then I don't need to know anymore about you.

Be safe everyone. 🙏🏽


Forever Doesn't Last A Long Time

“Foreva-eva?…eva-eva?”

I used to think it would be great if everything lasted forever, but now I believe in reality. Even if you are in a committed and long-term relationship, time passes so quickly that forever can seem so short and you're left with memories and if your relationship does withstand the test of time, then memories are the best attributes to your love for one another. But this isn’t about that…

Whether you are married, single, in between relationships, or just dating around, I think we can all agree that our emotions are unpredictable. What we feel today might not be what we feel tomorrow and changing our minds is at our discretion because it’s our emotions. The tricky element is someone else's emotions may not align with ours. And that’s where feelings get hurt. I wrote about change of hearts earlier this year where I mentioned that at any given moment a relationship can change course because of one or both people. And I think when that happens it's the result of wanting different things. You may have started out having the same visions, but eventually something shifts and if the person isn’t shifting in the same direction then the relationship begins to break.

Happy, Blessed & Highly Favored

I Love It Here.

I think with where I’m at in life I completely understand the concept of forever not lasting a long time. Say I decided to start something with Chicago (the young man who I met last year), I would already know going into it that it’s not going to be long-term. Even if I get so wrapped up into him, in the back of my mind, I’d still be cognizant that this love affair temporary. And let’s say for instance, the guy I call Poppa calls me up and suggesting we start getting close again. I’d have to chose who I want to have a love affair with because I won’t be with both if them. And just because I choose one over the other doesn't mean one is the better man because even with Poppa, I wouldn't go into it thinking it will last forever. So let’s say I choose Poppa and then out of nowhere the Athlete from my past pops up and wants to start spending time with me again. I’d have to make another decision between the two because if no man is contributing to my home in one way or another, I am a single woman. And it's the same for a man. We have no obligation towards each other except for our feelings. So in any event you have to decide how deep your feelings are for someone. And emotions can run strong. They can also run hot and cold. That's why I don’t like to have any expectations too high about anyone. I can love someone and not be with them because loving someone and being in love are two different characters.

Any man who I’ve been with, I don’t ever speak ill of them, I may mention things I didn't agree with, but I don’t strip a man of his qualities. I think right now, I just want to enjoy who I enjoy no matter how long it lasts, but I also want a heads up when feelings change and when our forever is coming to an end. I don’t like being left in the dark when it comes to that, but here’s the other side of it and ladies I know most of you hate my mindset about this. If I’m involved with someone and he has strong feelings for me, but when he goes out he makes little connections with other women my only requirement is don’t let those little emotions outweigh your feelings for me. Don’t let those situations effect how you act towards me. If your feelings are strong for me then protect that. Because I’m still firm on the fact if I’m fooling with you, then I’m for you and I’m going to protect my feelings for you too. This isn't one sided and it's not just about me, so I am going to give you the same love. If you feel differently about me then say it because that’s when I feel I am being played with, when a man isn’t honest about his feelings towards me.

I’m not going to go through a man's phone and nag him about where he's going and who’ll be around him. No, I chose peace. I’ll be honest with you, I used to be like that when I was with my ex. I chose chaos over peace, actually we both did and it just blew up so much that I had to walk away. And I’m not trying to say that I welcome a man to make a fool of me, no. I am just giving him the option to be careful with what he does when he's not with me OR he can choose to be sloppy and cause problems for us. But the biggest hurdle he’ll have with me is that my intuition is 99% on point. I can feel the slightest difference in someone's behavior, so he’s got to be a master at whatever he does when it comes to keeping our connection going.

When I’m around, those silly girls aren’t and they have no leverage over me and no one is trying to be in your face or push up on you. And you know who has spoiled me about that??? ALL OF MY GUY FRIENDS. Anytime I hang out with my guys, there may be some women looking their way or want to talk to them, and my friends may chat with them for a few minutes, but they don’t take their focus away from me. And I’ve never asked them to do that. And that might have made me overly confident, but why shouldn't I be? I’m not perfect, but I’m the only one who’s me. And I’m not sorry that my fellas set the bar high. Catch up. So if a man can't meet that requirement I have, then our forever is going to be very short. So forever-eva? Nah…maybe just forever-for-now.