Raise the Standard, or Lower Your Expectations!
When I was growing up I always wanted what most of the girls around me wanted...the husband, house with the picket fence in a nice neighborhood, the children and maybe a dog. Of course, I had a few boyfriends, a few children and an apartment in the hood in my actual story.. Regardless of the sometimes foolish choices I made in life when dating, I always knew what characterisitics a good man possessed. I was raised around good men, I saw countless women around me being treated right and loved. Because of the things I previously stated, I could never really "settle" in a relationship, of course I stayed, 3 years, 6 years and the last relationship 4 years but.....they really didn't work because I knew there was more, I believed I should, and would be treated better. I was raised around men that provided.....now when I say provided I mean more than material things, these men were strong, supportive, openly affectionate and the women I knew felt safe and secure and could therefore thoroughly fulfill their role as woman or wife without having to pick up the slack from what the men weren't doing. This new generation of brothers think it's cool to move in with a women, lounge all day while she's at work and have several other women on the side . Now to be quite frank, I don't blame them, I blame us as women. We have made this behavior acceptable by forgiving repeated behavior, making excuses for them because we believe that we can change them when some of them don't really want to change because if you won't do it, he can go down the street and find another chick who will. We have got to get the mindset that says "no matter how long it takes for the guy for me to come along, I WON"T SETTLE!" Either we raise our standards, or lower our expectations. If your not going to require much, then don't look or ask for much. You are worth it, and if you don't believe it then no one else will.
