{"id":4,"date":"2015-02-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/seven-dating-detours-women-take-on-the-road-to-true-love-and-commitment\/"},"modified":"2015-02-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T00:00:00","slug":"seven-dating-detours-women-take-on-the-road-to-true-love-and-commitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/seven-dating-detours-women-take-on-the-road-to-true-love-and-commitment\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Dating Detours Women Take on the Road to True Love and Commitment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssba\" style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\">\n<div style=\"text-align:center;margin-top:10px;\">Share this post and help spread the love!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Shakespeare once said, \u201cThe road to true love never did run smooth\u2019, but that doesn\u2019t mean we have to contribute to the bumpy ride<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-110 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wblob\/54592E651337D2\/5FE\/6A838\/NXKbsKE9BQa5hIVMHYGspQ\/ae4f855bf98cdfc2e4cb21cc2d346607.jpg\" alt=\"ae4f855bf98cdfc2e4cb21cc2d346607\" width=\"450\" height=\"254\"\/> ourselves. What I find as a therapist working with singles is that women often make serious dating mistakes and then wonder what happened. I call these detours and have identified the seven most common ones.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: left\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Discounting the role of biology and hard wiring in our dating behaviors. We have come along way baby, but we are still ruled by our hormones and our biology. What this means is that men are hardwired to do certain things and so are women. We can make intellectual decisions to do it differently, but these decisions are often sabotaged by our basic nature. Now does this mean that women are relegated to the home, while the man goes out and brings home the bacon? No, not by a long shot, but it does mean that women are receptive and men are proactive. In the dating world, this means he makes the call and you decide whether to answer the call. In other words, he pursues and you choose. He has the power to \u201cgo after what he wants\u201d and you have the power \u201cto choose what you want.\u201d This is equal power in my book.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol style=\"text-align: left\" start=\"2\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Miscalculating the high value men put on the respect they get from you as part of the decision to commit to a relationship with you. Yes, men are sexual beings and this is certainly important to them; but when I work with divorced men, I rarely hear them say they got divorced due to sexual issues. More often than not it has more to do<br \/>\nwith how the woman treated him and whether she respected\u00a0and valued him as a man. So in choosing a man to date, choose one you can and do respect and value, and then let him know this by your attitude and actions toward him.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Choosing a Fixer Upper. Men are not do-it-yourself projects. This goes along with detour number two. If a woman does not <a href=\"http:\/\/d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wblob\/54592E651337D2\/5FE\/6A840\/nFV66yeKsCYfR6ldF8zVuQ\/online-dating-header2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-112 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wblob\/54592E651337D2\/5FE\/6A840\/nFV66yeKsCYfR6ldF8zVuQ\/online-dating-header2.jpg\" alt=\"online-dating-header2\" width=\"400\" height=\"288\"\/><\/a>respect\u00a0and value a man as he is from date one, then going out with him and attempting to \u201cfix him\u201d is a major detour. Now I\u2019m not saying that a woman can\u2019t influence a man to change some things about himself\u2013she probably can, but be careful that these are not character or value laden things. If he is not an ethical and moral man, then nothing you do will change this. If has addictions or a history of infidelity or career problems or emotional issues of long standing, then these are what he comes with and will leave with. Don\u2019t go there\u2013 meaning, don\u2019t start a relationship with a man unless you respect him right away. As for things you may be able to change\u2013I have seen women who were able to get a man to improve his image in terms of his clothes. I have seen women who have been able to introduce a man to more cultural things, and I have seen women who have helped a man enlarge his vocabulary or eat a well-balanced diet, but those are about it. Most of the time, what you see is what you get.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol style=\"text-align: left\" start=\"4\">\n<li style=\"text-align: right\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Having sex before a committed relationship is established. This is probably\u00a0the biggest and sometimes the most difficult detour to get out of once it happens. Here are the pitfalls: Men can have sex without commitment fairly easily. They can certainly have it without love. For many men, sex and a relationship do not necessarily have anything to do with each other. Remember, they are hardwired to pursue attractive women, women they can mate with \u2013 this is a biological urge. This urge does not make them bad people, it simply makes them normal men. Women, by the same token, are biologically programmed to find a mate who will stay around and provide for them and the baby that is the natural result of a sexual union. Now I know that some of you are saying, \u201cYeah, but we have birth control now,\u201d or even, \u201cI have had all my kids and so has he, so this should not come into play\u201d\u2013but this is discounting biology and hormones as noted in detour number one. His hormones are urging him to find a willing woman and mate with her. Her hormones are telling her that once she has sex with a guy, bond with him and keep him around. This is because as soon as a woman has sex with a man, her body secretes a bonding chemical called oxytocin. Even if she was not sure about him before she had sex with him, now he takes on a rosy glow fueled by this powerful hormone. She now feels compelled to try and keep him whether he was just having some fun sex with her, he was a fixer-upper, or he simply wasn\u2019t what she had in mind.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol style=\"text-align: left\" start=\"5\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Asking men to dance, calling them, sending them emails or cute cards is a waste of your time, if you are interested in a long-term <a href=\"http:\/\/d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wblob\/54592E651337D2\/5FE\/6A83C\/DW2nFWdSuImRU_2Dmit9fQ\/Dating-online.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-111 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wblob\/54592E651337D2\/5FE\/6A83C\/DW2nFWdSuImRU_2Dmit9fQ\/Dating-online.jpg\" alt=\"Dating-online\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\"\/><\/a>committed relationship. It\u2019s the man\u2019s biological job to pursue the woman. So if he is not in active pursuit of you, then he is either not interested, not ready, or not in your league. Again, I go back to how we are hard wired. Men are hard wired to plant their seed \u2013 there is just no better way to say it. If they look at you at a dance or have gone out with you already and they are not actively pursuing you, then they are not interested, or not interested enough, to do what men have been doing since the dawn of time to get you to choose him. Remember, men pursue and women choose. Now once an LTR is established, and you\u2019ll know when this is the case, then you can do all of these things. Until that time comes, this is a big detour. So, unless you want to get stuck on that road for a long time, I would keep myself occupied with other things so I won\u2019t be tempted to make that call or send that email. By the way, this goes for first-time internet meetings as well. Do not send him a thank you email afterward. If he is interested in you, he will call you or email you. This has nothing to do with good manners either, so don\u2019t give me that. When it comes to dating, that rule does not apply.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol style=\"text-align: left\" start=\"6\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Talking shop. Most women these days have a job, and many have professional careers. They are successful and when they are at work, they use the rules of work, which by the way, were established a long time ago by men. Work is a male world and women have joined that world and have done quite well in it. But dating is a different world and has different rules. Talking shop, that is, you talking shop, is a turn off to many, if not most men. He himself may do this as a way of impressing you, which is natural,. Remember, he wants you to choose him \u2013 but when you talk shop, it throws off the romantic chemistry of dating. He\u2019s looking for what makes you different from him\u2013not what makes you just like him. Also, men by nature, are competitive and when you talk shop this brings out his competitive side. Romance does not bloom in a competitive environment. Now this does not mean that once you are in an LTR that you can\u2019t talk shop with your man, of course you can. If you were not able to do this with him, then one of your important needs would go unmet \u2013 so I am not suggesting that you can never talk about your work \u2013 but not at the beginning. He needs to fall in love with the mystery of your feminine nature \u2013 the Aphrodite in you \u2013 not the part of you that is just like him.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol style=\"text-align: left\" start=\"7\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Not valuing and validating your own self worth. Men love women who love themselves. Remember, they are competitive and like to win and of course they want to win something of value. If you think you are something special, then so will he. And this goes for women of any age \u2013 your value does not go down with age unless you think it does. It also does not go down with statistics. Just because there are other women out there on the dance floor or on his list of potential matches on Internet dating sites, does not decrease your value unless you think it does. If a man does not treat you in a way that feels like he values you, then you need to move on. He is either someone who doesn\u2019t value women and relationships or he has the impression from you that you don\u2019t think much of yourself, and he is just feeding back to you this belief. In this situation it is best to disengage from him and from dating and do some work on your own self worth, and don\u2019t date until you feel really good about yourself.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wblob\/54592E651337D2\/5FE\/6A905\/3Nj9WkhlaI2VsRrjjc_2mA\/the-dating-game-615.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-113 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wblob\/54592E651337D2\/5FE\/6A905\/3Nj9WkhlaI2VsRrjjc_2mA\/the-dating-game-615.jpg\" alt=\"the dating game 615\" width=\"615\" height=\"432\"\/><\/a>Now for those of you who are thinking this does not apply to you or you know someone who has beaten the odds and they are now living happily ever, all I can say is they are the lucky ones. Common sense and statistics tell us that most people on the other hand will fall within the great bell-shaped curve of this dating theory. Most successful women, in terms of finding true love and commitment, know and understand why these seven things are detours. They have gone down the bumpy road to love and have learned some valuable lessons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">They know that men and women are wired differently. They know that they can\u2019t change a guy from a frog to a prince. They know that having sex too soon is a big mistake. They know that if she does not respect him he probably won\u2019t marry her and even if he does they are headed for trouble; that talking shop is a real romance killer; that calling men and being the pursuer is why the book He\u2019s Just Not That Into You was such a big seller; and that if she doesn\u2019t put a high value on herself, she can\u2019t expect a man to do it for her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">So the next time you\u2019re thinking of taking one of these detours, stop and turn around and go back and re-start your trip. I guarantee you\u2019ll be glad you did<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lorrainebanfield.com\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-51 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wblob\/54592E651337D2\/4E9\/45C28\/fiIEFeVHr1F-EeikgrhbXQ\/lorrainebanner03a.jpg\" alt=\"lorrainebanner03a\" width=\"700\" height=\"150\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"ssba\" style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\">\n<div style=\"text-align:center;margin-top:10px;\">Share this post and help spread the love!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c21-cta-prepared\">\n<div class=\"c21_cta_blogging c21_cta_content\">\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.empowernetwork.com\/almostasecret?id=2362215\" class=\"c21_cta_btn\" target=\"_blank\">Click Here To Watch The Free Presentation<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this post and help spread the love! Shakespeare once said, \u201cThe road to true love never did run smooth\u2019, but that doesn\u2019t mean we have to contribute to the bumpy ride ourselves. What I find as a therapist working with singles is that women often make serious dating mistakes and then wonder what happened. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2999,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,6,7,2,8,9],"tags":[10,11,12,13,14],"class_list":["post-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-21-day-blogging-challenge","category-baggage","category-boundaries","category-counseling","category-dating","category-my-21-day-blogging-challenge","category-psychotherapy","category-relationships","tag-counseling","tag-dating","tag-relationship","tag-self-help","tag-therapy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2999"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/cornerstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}