Men and women alike have a long, hilarious, sad history of doing uncharacteristic things in the face of a new love. From dying our hair, to getting tattoos, to relocating across the country, there are endless ways that people are changing their lives to suit the desires of the one they desire.
There’s always that fine line between making compromises to accommodate your significant other’s needs (which is good!) and giving up major parts of yourself for their benefit…which is obviously very bad.
Below are a few of the more common, and more heinous, little sacrifices that might not seem like a big deal when you make them…but they definitely are:
Women:
Running the faucet in the bathroom…so many women do this! We know that they know that we all do the same kinds of things in the bathroom so why, oh why, do we feel the need to try and cover our tracks? I think it just makes us look kind of insane.
Faking orgasms: attention women everywhere! Stop doing this immediately! It is so counterproductive. I mean, if you’re content to have mediocre, orgasm-lacking sexy times for the rest of your relationship, then go ahead, nab that Best Actress in the Bedroom award. But he’s never going to get it right if you don’t hand out some pointers. Egos really ought to be checked at the door when it comes to sex anyway.
Sacrificing our friends for his: he wants you by his side all the times but hanging out with your gal pals isn’t exactly his cup of tea. So what do you do? Ditch the ladies and start learning to love his friends! Nope. Never. I hate it when I see this…and I won’t lie, I’ve been guilty of it before. But it’s one of the worst things that women commonly do in relationships.
It’s great to become friendly with his pals, but remember that your posse is your support and your family…don’t give them up because you like making out with someone new. And if your new man doesn’t understand why you need them in your life, then maybe you don’t need him in yours.
Men:
Pretending to like our stupid girly things – here’s a secret you fellas should all know: we know that our love of specialty tea shops and Grey’s Anatomy is totally girly. And even though we’re modern, kickass, brilliant women, we also know that there’s nothing wrong with guilty pleasures so whatever. You shouldn’t judge.
On the other hand, what you also shouldn’t do? Pretend to be into those things yourself. You don’t have to share every interest and there are some things that are better left to the ladies.
Displays of unnecessary machismo – on the opposite end of the spectrum from pretending to like our girly things, there’s this: the urge men get around a woman they fancy to start acting like a caveman. I’m talking about everything from insisting on driving everywhere, paying for everything, arbitrary muscle flexing, even getting into random fights with other dudes. Seriously, some of you do this stuff!
Granted, we like our men to be men, but you can accomplish that with restraint and subtly sexy masculinity…if you’re a real man, you don’t have to break anything to get that to shine through. And if you’ve just got to throw something around, let it be us, later, in the bedroom.
Ditching friends – just like it is with the women, sometimes men will end up being the socially submissive ones in relationships and end up trading their afternoons with the guys for shopping at IKEA and taking her puppy for a walk in the park.
These are all perfectly fine things to do together but not when you are giving up the great baseball tickets you and your friends had. I know she’s the greatest gal to ever walk the planet and all that (eye roll) but you need your friends. Especially since you’re going to need their help to pull you out of this chick’s emasculating claws at some point soon.
