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What to do When They Won’t Commit

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The podcast addresses a common relationship dilemma where one partner desires immediate commitment while the other prefers to let things unfold day by day, framing this discrepancy primarily as an issue of incompatibility rather than a fixable flaw in character. The speaker argues that navigating fundamental differences—such as lifestyle preferences like partying versus early bedtimes—is inherently tense and often unsustainable unless there is deep emotional investment or children involved; otherwise, it is far more efficient to find a partner whose natural rhythms align with one's own. Consequently, the hesitation to commit from the female side in an early relationship stage is flagged not necessarily as a red flag but as a significant "amber flag" indicating that she may not be ready for what he offers, suggesting that continuing indefinitely without resolution could lead to stagnation or oblivion rather than growth. To resolve this discordance, the speaker advises men who are genuinely ready to commit to setting a personal deadline after which their current level of non-commitment becomes unacceptable to them. This approach shifts the dynamic from trying to persuade an uninterested partner to recognizing that there is no need for one person to convince another to love them if both parties share similar intentions and readiness levels. The core lesson here is that relationships thrive when partners are on the same wavelength, eliminating the exhausting necessity of acting out a persona or filling silences with forced conversation just to maintain peace. Instead, the goal should be to identify someone who allows for complete authenticity, where one can speak freely without censorship and sit in silence comfortably, signaling a deep resonance between two individuals. The discussion further explores the fear that an authentic self might be rejected as unworthy of love, asserting instead that every person deserves acceptance from the right partner simply by being themselves. The speaker emphasizes that falling in love with someone who loves only the role or persona one plays is hollow; such affection amounts to praise for a performance rather than genuine connection with the individual's true sense of self-being. By consistently showing their authentic selves, even if it leads to rejection from those not meant to be partners, individuals filter out relationships based on superficial traits and eventually find someone who loves them for who they truly are without requiring them to mute internal monologues or perform little dances just to elicit a giggle over dinner. However, the concept of authenticity is nuanced by the necessity of personal development regarding behaviors that might be genuinely harmful or undesirable, such as chronic flatulence used as an example of something one should transcend rather than embrace unconditionally. The speaker suggests distinguishing between core aspects of identity that are non-negotiable and habits or traits that can be improved upon through alchemy—transcending them to include a better version of oneself in the relationship dynamic. Ultimately, the path to lasting love involves holding onto those who accept one's true self while letting go of others, ensuring that the resulting bond is built on real affection rather than praise for a curated image. This philosophy extends beyond romantic compatibility to encompass the broader human experience where we often wear masks at work or around family; finding a partner removes this drain and allows life to be lived without constant performance.
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If a girl says she wants to take our relationship day by day, how should I approach this? It does sound quite a lot to me like a lack of commitment. And by the way you framed your question, I'm going to guess that you would be happy to just straight up commit. That you wouldn't need to take it day by day. that you would be happy to say where you want it to be, where you want it to end up, and then do the things in order to get there without having to let it sort of emerge or unfold. And one of the things I've kind of come to believe about relationships, a lot of disagreements like this, like you're having to navigate this weird discordance. I assume she wants a thing and you want a different thing and you now have to be the person and so does she in some regard. You know, she could ask the same question. Uh if a boy says he wants me to commit to a long-term plan, uh but I want to take it day by day, how should I approach this? Right? There's sort of two sides to this. Ultimately, I've kind of come to believe that this is just incompatibility. Right? If what you want is a girl who says she wants to take the relationship the same way that you do and then you don't have to navigate anything. This sort of lesson that it's far easier to get a partner who compensates for our shortcomings than it is to fix them. Right? Let's say that you're the sort of person who likes to go out partying three nights a week. you love uh raves and and late nights and and seeing DJs play and stuff and your partner is someone who likes to be in bed by 9:00 p.m. There is going to be conflict because what you want and what they want are different and you have to navigate that and it's going to be a course of tension. Now, if you're in deep and there's kids or you know something you just love this person for all of the other reasons then maybe that's one price that you need to pay. But like, let's be honest here. It would just be way easier to find somebody that also wants to go to bed at 9:00 p.m. every night. Or it would be easier for them to find someone that wants to go out clubbing every night. And I would be cautious, especially given she wants to take it day by day. That suggests that it's an early relationship. Not a red flag, but it's a pretty big amber flag for me because it suggests that you're in a place ready to commit that she isn't. And I would set yourself a deadline so that you don't just mana mñana mana this into oblivion. There are so many girls out there. How many girls that are listening to this show right now would love a guy to say, "I am ready to commit to you. I'm just ready to commit. I You don't need to persuade me. I'm just ready to go." Let me tell you, Rob, [ __ ] tons. Okay? You don't need to convince. You shouldn't need to convince somebody to commit to you even in the beginning if you are ready to commit as well. Like your goal is to find somebody who's on the same wavelength as you. So, uh set a deadline after which your level of non-commmitment would be unacceptable to you. And then if that happens, there are an awful lot of women out there, many of whom are listening to this show right now, who would [ __ ] snap your hand off to be the person that commits to them. Advice for men who crave a female partner but are terrified that their authentic self will be rejected or isn't worthy of love. Oh, that's good. I kind of said it earlier on. Your goal your goal really in relationships is to find the person around whom you can be your most you you feel most like yourself. You're not self-censoring. I guess it's two it's two ends. You feel like you can say things without censorship as freely as possible and you feel like you can sit in silence and not need to fill it. If you have both of those things, you are pretty resonant with that person, right? You are in you're vibing with them. They are on the same sort of level as you. And that's wonderful because we have to put on all kinds of acts and personas to get through our day-to-day existence. We have to behave differently at work and in meetings and around our parents. And that's exhausting a lot of the time. And if you can't even be yourself around your partner, I fear that it's such a huge drain on you. And what's what does it teach you? It teaches you the lesson. I cannot be myself anywhere. Like if I can't be myself with my long-term partner that I'm supposed to be that's supposed to see me and love me for who I am. So again, it comes back to what I said earlier on this compatibility thing. If you can't be yourself around your partner, just find someone that you can. So advice for men who crave a female partner but are terrified that their authentic self would be rejected or isn't worthy of love. Your authentic self will be accepted and is worthy of love just from the right woman. And your goal is to continue to show your your authentic self over and over again so that every single person who it is not for rejects you or you reject them. That should be your goal. Your goal should be as many rejections as possible from you or from them while showing your authentic self because it means the person if you're not showing your authentic self, the person who would have loved you is not going to because you're not showing up as you and the person who ends up loving you does not love you because you haven't [ __ ] shown yourself. It's like so it's such basic maths that when you realize if you play a role, the person that you're with doesn't fall in love with you and their love doesn't ever actually come into contact with your sense of self-being because you know that it's not love, it's praise. They're praising this role that you're playing. Oh, well done for doing the little act that made me giggle over dinner. But what you know is that that joke wasn't actually what you meant to say. You had this other monologue in the back of your mind that you muted and then you did this little performance. You did this little dance and they giggled and you gave yourself like kind of a congratulation but it's so hollow because it's not love. It's praise. And your goal should be to be your authentic self over and over again and be rejected or reject as many times as possible until you find the person that you can be your authentic self around. And then you do everything in your power to hold on to them. That's the way to do it. I think as the not married person 37, um I think it is. And that's when I feel happiest as well, when I'm being my authentic self. So hopefully that I guess the the one caveat here is there is such a thing as your authentic self kind of being an [ __ ] and that requires you to do some personal development. Your authentic self, you say, you know, I'm a farter. I've always been a farter. I'm going to continue. My daddy was a farter. My son will be a farter. I'm a fartter because I'm a farter. I'm going to make sure on my first date that I'm I'm my authentic self. I'm going to fart my way through this first date. It's like, ah, maybe you should get rid of that. Maybe that's not the best place for your authenticity to come out. Maybe actually that's a part of you that you need to improve. And you need to work out what are the areas that you do not want to compromise on that you feel are very close to your sense of self. And what are the areas where you think, "Huh, this person who accepts a lot of the bits of me, but doesn't accept that bit of me, I actually don't like that bit of me either, and they're getting me to transcend it and include it and alchemize and move past it. Wouldn't that be wonderful?" So, hopefully that helps. 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