A relationship without good sex doesn’t seem to really get anywhere. Not connecting physically halts new lovers in their tracks more quickly than any other incompatibility imaginable. When I was new to a relationship myself, I never realized how inevitably sex morphs and changes once you start getting good at it, or really just used […]
When I first started having sex in my relationship, I saw it as fun, enjoyable, and a bit mysterious. In the beginning, it was a huge peak after a build up of sexual tension between Haley and me. When sex grows up, it becomes making love (but it doesn’t have to be one of those […]
Time for another book review, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Usually I only talk about books that I really enjoy all of the way through, but this book gets a bit more of a mixed review. There are certainly some useful and applicable insights about the behaviors of men and women, but […]
So you say you love your spouse, your boyfriend, or your generic term for person you are in a relationship with? Well let me ask you this: Do you love the other half of your relationship too? Do you love yourself? I know it sounds like some mushy bullshit, but it’s a surprisingly important question […]
Over the past year, I’ve started reading a lot more non-fiction books, especially books on relationships. Well, sometimes I read them and sometimes I just skim them for the good parts. About a month ago, I finally got around to reading a relationship classic, The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. I already knew about […]
Thank goodness progressive social movements overthrew the ideas of abstinence-preaching Christians and have normalized sex. Sex is great for a multitude of reasons: it feels great, it connects people emotionally, and it can be awkward and rebellious, a perfect recipe to provide a driving force for growth. Of course, sex is also frequently abused and […]
Ever watch a movie where the main character couple seem to deliberately not talk to each other about the elephant in the room issue just so that one of them can have an epiphany moment, come to the other apologizing, hug it out, and then live happily ever after? If you’ve seen more than like […]
Sex is a favorite activity of many, but it is also one of the most vulnerable. It’s literally taking off all your clothes and facing someone who you hope finds you attractive and “enough”. Don’t like your stomach? Too damn bad, you can’t suck it in the whole time. It can even be vulnerable for […]
Everyone’s first piece of advice for finding a compatible person to date is to find someone with a lot of similarities. But for a lasting, healthy relationship, being aligned is a bit more complex. You need to be similar beyond liking the same T.V. shows or being from the same small town in Tennessee. Duh. […]
About two weeks after we went on our first “official” date, Haley asked if she could call herself my girlfriend. I thought that was moving a bit quick, but decided fuck it, might as well get the show on the road, and replied, “You can. In fact, I encourage it”. A month later, she wanted […]
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I was home with my family. Upon the request of my mom, we all went to see the Mister Rogers movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. About halfway through the movie, I realized an underlying but central theme to the film was emotional intelligence, a topic I have spent a […]
Independence is a huge buzzword in the realm of personal development, and shocker, it is brilliantly misused and misunderstood. There’s a reason “I’m a strong, independent woman and I don’t need no man” became a meme. It’s a load of crap. Independence goes way beyond “not needing someone to complete you.” In the realm of […]