Archives for August 2020

Should I Reach Out To My Ex, Even After They Dumped Me?

August 31, 2020 by Dr. NerdLove Leave a Comment

Hello Doctor!

I’m a recently turned 30 cis woman. I am also a recovering alcoholic who worked at the rehab that helped me. Recently I relapsed, due to several factors, but the big one was helping a fellow person with substance abuse.

This man went to the same place shortly before I did, and was one of two people I trusted to get in a car with. I drove him to detox in May, and before the end of June he had relapsed. I had done nothing sexual with him (even though I wanted to) for over 3 years, but I have loved him for nearly that long. I never met anyone I connected with more, and I was the only person he could talk to about his drinking, nerdiness, and trauma as his use drove everyone away but me. He would go months without replying, but I always sent him “I hope you are doing well” text at the beginning and end of each month.

After he relapsed, I had a bunch of hits in life and relapsed on the 4th of July with him, even though he didn’t know I was drinking. We had sex, fun, and nerded out. Best I had felt in years. However, when I was honest and told him and tried talking, he acted like I had corrupted myself and treated me with disgust and hurt. I tried to apologise and talk to him, not very often, just once every two weeks like I had before. He finally responded and he asked I call him. I did and got too emotional by crying and shedding “crocodile tears”.

He informed me that I was now blocked. I can take rejection, but he is going to kill himself drinking. He is at least 20 pounds underweight and has had multiple seizures when trying to quit. I am the only one who knows how bad he is. I blame myself for not being more patient and just waiting again.

Do I have a duty to tell anyone about how bad he is, or should I just cut him out like he has me? I don’t want him to die or worse. Do you have any advice?

Regrets, I Have A Few

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I Want To Find a Friend With Benefits… But I Don’t Know How.

August 28, 2020 by Dr. NerdLove Leave a Comment

Hello Doc,
I am not currently in the mental state to be in a long term, committed relationship, but I would like to be intimate with a woman/women. But I have no idea how this even happens. How does it start? And especially, how does a guy even bring up this idea without being labelled a douchebag/creeper/fuckboy?

I’ve asked similar questions to this online on multiple sites, just simply asking how a guy looks for this without being creepy, and have had answers along the lines of “it’s impossible, because FWB is creepy”, or “you’re basically asking how do I do this creepy thing without being creepy”, or “you don’t think she’s good enough to date but you’d still fuck her, you don’t see her as a person”. I don’t think I said anything to warrant this kind of reaction, so it seems to just be that they don’t like the idea. It would be one thing if this was just a matter of personal preference, but they seem to carry the implication (or in some cases, explicitly remark) that any guy who would want this or look for this is creepy, predatory, misogynistic, and awful.

So it seems like, when finding someone, that I have to be lucky enough to:

1. Not have any hangups about the idea, not think that it’s inherently creepy,
2. Not have any hangups about me in particular asking

and that’s in addition to

3. The whole thing with approaching in general, that she has to be fine with both my approach and the venue.

And of course, there’s no way of truly knowing any of this without asking in the first place. And these three things are just what I need to not be seen as a reprehensible creep for this, not even to actually FIND a FWB. At this point, it seems less like finding someone and more like playing the lottery.

So, how does this happen, and how does a man do it without being seen as evil?

Benefits Package

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Episode #149 — How Do You Know If She’s Right For You?

August 26, 2020 by Dr. NerdLove Leave a Comment

What makes one relationship last, while another falls apart? Why do you seem to have found your dream relationship, only to have it turn into a nightmare? Your partner may seem perfect, but it takes more than shallow commonalities to make a relationship work. Just because things are amazing in the beginning doesn’t mean that everything is going to work out on it’s own.

If you’ve ever wondered whether she’s “the one”, or you want to know if your relationship has what it takes to go the distance, then you need to answer these questions.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:

Why people end up in cycles of relationships that SEEM great, but fall apart within six months
How “New Relationship Energy” can hide relationship destroying flaws
What you REALLY need to have in common to make a relationship last
Why the way you fight may be more important than your “love languages”
What sexual compatibility REALLY means

… and so much more.

RELATED LINKS:

Are You Ready For A Girlfriend? — https://www.doctornerdlove.com/are-you-ready-for-a-girlfriend/

Is She Right For You? — https://www.doctornerdlove.com/is-she-right-for-you/

5 Questions You Should Ask Before You Start Your Next Relationship — https://www.doctornerdlove.com/5-questions-you-should-ask-when-you-start-relationship/

Are You Sexually Compatible? — https://www.doctornerdlove.com/are-you-sexually-compatible/

How To Have The “Defining The Relationship” Talk — https://www.doctornerdlove.com/defining-the-relationship/

Listen Here
Download Here

Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes , Stitcher and on YouTube.

Like the podcast? Become a Dr. NerdLove patron at Patreon.com/DrNerdLove

Want more dating advice? Check out my books at www.www.doctornerdlove.com/books

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How Do I Find New Friends During The Pandemic?

August 24, 2020 by Dr. NerdLove Leave a Comment

Hello Dr NerdLove,

I have been reading your articles for a few years and used to be one of the haters until a year or two ago. You have helped me a lot already in coming to terms with whom I should be.

However, to get to what I want to ask about: how do I make friends during this time of COVID-19?

So scenario, in 2018 I (male, 30) moved to a new country for work and met my then GF (we will call V) only 3 months after moving. I had zero connections in the city, and where I work either people are very socially isolated (Not negatively, can’t think of an appropriate word) or were in very strong cliques to begin with. This makes it hard to get in with people and even then I am not a person who invests in people. I’m trying to work on this although it is hard to change nature.

I met my girlfriend though Bumble, where we hit it off right away. I was very invested in her, which is something I don’t normally do. The real rub of this was that she was my first GF that lasted more than 3 dates. From there, it was very typical until the Big C came. One day the stress got too much, and an argument erupted and this time I let slip that I would like a family. Even to this day I have no idea why I said it. I had decided to take up counselling and try and make repairs to my mental health. After that argument, 2 weeks had passed and she returned from seeing friends and family . Then that is when we split up. We both agreed that this was best for us and it went by a well as a break up can be.

However, I had no choice but to live with V, as I had nowhere to go absolutely nowhere. This made realized that I fucked up big time and I felt so guilty and ashamed that I had to stay at her place until I could find my own.

I’m all settled into a new place, the pain is still lingering from time to time but it is a scar I’m glad to have. However, I need to build a much stronger support network for myself if I am to ever survive during this COVID-19 time. I have family and a best friend back home, but they are 8+ hours ahead of me. How can I make more friends if I can’t go out or do social activities?

Best Wishes,

Love In The Time Of COVID

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Did I Just Ruin My Life For Sex?

August 21, 2020 by Dr. NerdLove Leave a Comment

Hello.

I’m a man in my 30s with next to none sexual experience. There are various reasons for my lack of experience, but I think the main reason is that I’m far too picky, when you consider my own attractiveness. The lack of sex in my life has bothered me quite frequently, and the only reason I haven’t visited a sex worker yet is that I’m morbidly afraid of STDs. Herpes, to be more precise. I understand that most people will contract HSV-1 during their lifetime, and HSV-2 too is quite widespread. I also understand that most infections are asymptomatic and when they aren’t, the symptoms are mostly manageable. Still, because of my kissless and sexless life, I have been able to count myself among, for lack of a better word, the clean ones (not trying to shame of stigmatise, you can probably tell that English isn’t my first language), and this has been a great source of joy in my life. Now I’m afraid that I have thrown it away for nothing.

I recently met a woman in a bar (unlike much of the world we aren’t under lockdown) that for some reason seemed to be quite infatuated with me. At some point she asked if I would like to have sex with her and I thought why not, she was good company and attractive enough. Or so I thought, since it turned out that I wasn’t nearly as aroused by her that I thought I would be. I couldn’t maintain an erection and all our attempts to have intercourse more or less failed. I ended up fingering her and although she seemed to enjoy herself, I felt a little bad for wasting her time.

I would be more than able to laugh the whole incident off, if it wasn’t for the health aspect. I don’t claim to be the greatest judge of character, but she seemed like someone who would have a rather active sex life. I’m not judging, that just would make her more likely to carry the viruses I dread. I think it’s needless to say that I wore a condom and I was under the impression that the risk of catching herpes during dormant periods is somewhat low. I haven’t had any symptoms yet, but I’m not sure if it makes me feel any better. Asymptomatic herpes isn’t usually tested here, so I pretty much have no way of knowing if I’m as healthy as I used to be. And this makes me feel awfully dirty. Not to mention, now I have started to see crabs everywhere.

I see little reason why I would be having sex on a regular basis from now on. I have a extremely high sex drive, but it also seems like I see sex as something inherently disgusting. I think I would need a perfect partner to get over the dirtiness of the act. Now I feel like I have traded the only pro of having no sex life for the worst con of having one. Because of a momentary lapse of judgment I went from somebody who had zero partners to somebody who has fifty, and only thing I have to show for it is an experience I could have lived without. I used to think that I had a rather relaxed attitude towards sex, but it seems I’m not nearly as open minded as I thought I was. I’m not sure how much better I would feel if I had enjoyed the experience, but I’m sure I would feel far better if I had shared it with somebody I would perceive more chaste, and this bothers me somewhat.

Any any advice how to cope with this all would be appreciated

Not Trying To Be Dramatic But Did I Ruin My Life For Nothing

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