Thanks Kimberly. Appreciate your perspective.

Perhaps I am dating the wrong people or maybe women have been conditioned to expect their partners to be larger than life with few if any weaknesses (that only they are privy towards knowing about).

I find that there are two types of people in this world. Those who are authentic and value honesty, emotional intimacy and are almost always conservative, family oriented and self aware / outside the box.

Then, there’s everyone else.

In my experience, women want mystery and excitement within their relationships. They want a lot of other things from their partners as well. But despite the checklist, few are willing to ask themselves what they plan on giving in exchange for all the attributes and qualities they desire in a mate. Entitlement is the main reason why men either choose to be alone or seek a mate overseas. It’s just not possible to live up to the standards that many have set and even harder to be a man in a society that devalues men and acts to feminize them (share your feelings, be more sensitive, etc). Ideally we all ought to be balanced in our energies and be able to embrace and accept the weaknesses of others as well as ourselves.

But that is a difficult feat and takes a lot of inner work to achieve. Unfortunately in an age of instant gratification and high expectations, it’s becoming rare to find honest relationships with people who have the courage to be vulnerable and the confidence to weather rejection.

I think we still haven’t outgrown our biological instincts of a hunter/gatherer relationship dynamic. Society has reversed the paradigm by promoting women to be more like men and men to be more like women. This has caused distrust and confusion among both genders. Not an easy divide to heal and overcome.