Love Life with Matthew Hussey - (Rewind): The BIGGEST Male Insecurities in Dating Revealed . . .
Episode Date: January 12, 2024So this wasn’t the video we’d planned to release this week . . . But an online conversation turned into something so unexpected that we scrapped the original plan and recorded something new, bec...ause I couldn’t wait to talk about it. The video this week is all about bravery and kindness, and my goal is that by the end of it, you will understand and be able to relate to men a little better. Your coach, Matthew x P.S. Which revelation surprised you the most? I look forward to reading your thoughts as we continue this discussion . . . which has already become one of my favorites. ►► Get Commitment Without Games or Ultimatums. . . Reserve Your Spot to My Virtual Event For FREE at. . . → http://www.LoveLifeTraining.com ►► Pre-Order My New Book, "Love Life" at → http://www.LoveLifeBook.com
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If I need to play some kind of a game or she is going to lose interest,
she's going to decide that she's worked me out and she's going tosey with the Love Life podcast. Thank you so much for being here.
I think you're going to enjoy this clip. It's a classic from the archives. Check it out. And
don't forget, if you can leave us a review on iTunes, it would mean the world. It helps us
spread the word about this podcast. All right, let's get into the episode.
This morning, I put up a post on Facebook and Instagram asking men specifically,
what's an insecurity you have in early dating? Is she even into me? Wondering how I compare to
the competition and her previous boyfriends.
Will she be able to understand the emotions or the side of me that people don't usually see
or I don't normally let out? That I'm not good enough, says Dave, but interesting enough to be
on the short list. Financial expectations. Another person says, can I provide enough? Someone else says,
not being man enough. Their past relationships. Getting friend zoned. Am I too boring? Will I get
found out? Am I enough and can I please her? Is she really interested in me? Third date ideas, someone says. That one really made me laugh out loud when I read it
because it's really true. First date, drink. Second date, movie. Third date.
As a guy, you get to a point where you think, is there anything else in the world to do? That when we get past all the initial flirting and banter,
she won't like what's left.
Another theme is that if I show my interest,
they will lose theirs.
There was a comment here from Ryan who said,
"'Texting anxiety is the biggest one for me.
Purposefully spreading out response times to not come across as too available in order
to keep her interest.
It becomes a game.
A game I don't want to play, but am forced to play.
If I respond too quick, the pattern has been that she loses interest because the chase
is over and she'll spend more time chasing another guy who seems less interested.
Not to be too dramatic, but this is a bit like nuclear war, Jameson.
Okay.
Every country has to make the other country think that it will nuke them if they have
to, even if secretly they don't have any intention to.
Because of, what's it called, Jameson?
Mutually assured destruction.
Mutually assured destruction.
Except in dating, in our love lives,
all of this posturing, all of this game theory
creates mutually assured isolation.
I was really touched,
not only by the male responses to this post, but by the ways that women spoke about their reaction to the men's comments.
Morgan said, I'm going to start reading this thread before every date. These comments make me believe that real vulnerable men still exist. I'm here to gain
knowledge from their side. I never know how a question like this is going to go down on social
media. Are people really going to be vulnerable? Are they really going to be honest? Is this going
to be antagonistic in the comments or is it going to bring people together?
What was so beautiful about this is how profoundly it brought people together,
that it created this collective pressure valve and catharsis where everyone got to go,
we're all the same. It's a bit like everyone gets to see through the matrix for a brief moment and see how the world actually is beneath all of the facades, beneath all of the things I've been led to
believe about the other gender.
I now get to see who people really are.
They are me. The part that really sucks about insecurity
is that we can feel insecure about something in the case of the men replying to this post,
insecure about not being attractive enough, not being manly enough, not being successful enough.
We can feel insecure about those things but then on top of that we end up feeling insecure about
being insecure not only am i insecure that i'm not gonna live up to her past boyfriends i'm also
insecure that she's gonna find my insecurity about that disgusting. That the very act of being insecure about that
is gonna turn her off.
So now I feel insecure about this person's,
about the competition from the past
that I feel like I'm competing with,
but I don't dare say it
because if she knows that I'm insecure about that,
she's gonna find that insecurity a turnoff.
And we're not crazy for thinking that about each other.
Look, if this post proves anything, it's that there are plenty of amazing people that love
vulnerability and want to see more of it.
But we're not wrong for feeling like if I reveal my insecurity that could make me
unattractive because there are some people that see insecurity and go yuck
it may even have been us at points that felt that way even though we would never
describe it in such mean terms we might have felt turned off by insecurity in
the past or even subconsciously we might find ourselves turned off by insecurity in the past, or even subconsciously, we might find
ourselves repelled by insecurity. Now, we would think that insecurity would bring us closer
together because if I see your insecurity, then I'm able to see that, oh, we're not so different.
And therefore, that can help create a connection. Well that's the positive
side of vulnerability. But what if seeing insecurity in someone else reminds us of something
we don't like about ourselves, something we've tried to banish from ourselves, something we are
trying to run away from in ourselves, something we are trying to suffocate in ourselves
by dating someone that we think is so attractive and sure of themselves and desirable that by being
with them, we will finally be enough and won't have these insecurities anymore. If I date you
with all of your insecurities,
that's not going to get me out of my insecurities. It's just going to remind me of them. I don't want
to be like this. In fact, I hate this part of myself. I have contempt for this part of myself.
I don't want to be around you. You're going to infect me with more of that. If you think about
it, so many of these guys in this post are describing this feeling of needing to play a game.
How often should I text?
How much should I text?
How much should I reveal?
How much should I show interest in this person?
There's this constant feeling of I need to play some kind of a game or she is going to lose interest.
She is going to decide that she's worked me out and she's going to go and find someone
more mysterious.
I'm going to lose any shred of power or dignity or control over this situation.
And I'm going to pay the price for that in rejection.
Well, when someone sticks their neck out to say something or to try with us, rather than be coy, rather than use it as an
opportunity to claim power and be in control, we can encourage that effort. Someone could send us
a text in the morning and rather than just reply, we could say later that day, I really liked it
when you texted me this morning. It felt good to hear from
you. And in that moment, someone gets confirmation. Ah, I don't need to play a game here. I'm not
guessing whether she liked it. She told me that she liked it. And that gives me a feeling of
strength in wanting to let down, put down my weapons and keep stepping forward.
So many of us aren't rewarding other people's bravery. We're rewarding the opposite.
Ask yourself a question right now. Do I repeatedly in my life reward kindness and bravery on the part of the people I'm trying to attract?
Or do I reward the opposite of those things?
Meanness, indifference, a nonchalant, nonplussed attitude towards me.
Do I respond to someone making me second guess myself?
Do I respond to somebody who makes me question
whether they like me?
If you're someone who continuously rewards the opposite
of kindness and bravery,
I will tell you why you keep getting hurt in your love life.
The other recipe for getting hurt in your love life
while we're on the subject
is if you stick your neck out
in a brave way, but when someone doesn't reward that with their kindness and their bravery,
you keep sticking your neck out. A recipe for success in love is follow kindness and bravery.
Be kindness and bravery. And then when you get it back, follow that path. When you don't
get it back, use it as an instant signal to redirect your energy in a direction where kindness
and bravery lie. And lastly, I hope this post can make us all a little less susceptible to the kind of voices, especially online, that
seek to divide us by constantly making snarky or contemptuous comments about the other gender
in whatever direction that goes in.
Before you go, I wanted to let you know that we have a program that is great for anyone in early
dating right now who wants to make sure they don't keep ending up in casual situations but gets into
a relationship that actually goes somewhere it's called the momentum texts is ridiculously practical and you can get it for $7 over at MomentumTexts.com.