I know it isn't an option now, but at the time it had all just happened and I was blinded by the grief and the realization that I liked this man a lot more than he liked me.
To be frank, age is not something I care about. I'm not in a race to find a partner. If it takes me 40 years to find a partner that is fine with me as it is not my life goal to be with someone. My comfortability is my main priority while I am learning how best to navigate all of this. So if it takes me a month, eight months, or two years I will do what I need to do to make sure that I am comfortable. Do I want a partner/Dominant? Of course I do. However, I am not needing to do it immediately. Additionally, if I am speaking to a man and one of the only reasons for being interested is my age, I am out. Everybody can have their own preferences, but wanting someone who is between the ages of 18-30 as someone who is older seems predatory to me. A 40, 50, 60+ year old only considering woman around these ages is highly problematic in my eyes. To me it comes across as wanting a young piece of meat and not actually caring about the person themselves.
I don't know if it's the way I worded my post, but it seemed to have come off wrong for a few different reasons. He lives in a different state then I do so I was taking precautions to meeting him the first few months. I had brought up wanting to meet in person quite a few times in the last five months or so, but for some reason or another the conversation never came to fruition. I got much too enveloped in enjoying my time with him that I lost sight of keeping my goals, wants, and needs at heart. I just knew that I enjoyed his presence and that whatever was going to happen, would happen. Is 8 months a long time to get to know someone and never meet them, yes. However, being inexperienced in relationships in general while also being inexperienced in this world I was being cautious. I didn't know what to do or what to expect. I have been told by multiple people, multiple times not to rush things and to do it in my own time. That's what I was doing. To explain, I had , I guess, assumed that he might broach some conversation being the experienced one about meeting in a general sense, what to expect. A safe way to do things, coach me through it. We had had many conversations talking about things like this so it was just something I thought he would bring up to me after I had mentioned to him nine ways to sunday that I wanted to see him in person. I guess that is my fault for not taking initiative and having that conversation sooner. I knew that I wanted to be in a relationship for some time, but got tired of asking for it and told him I wanted it.
I would consider going to my parents, but they are not a viable option for me. That is why I am here, asking. I did also talk to my friends about it and they helped me to realize that he obviously either a, hasn't had the intentions he said he had and just liked the attention, b, he didn't like me as much as I like him, or c, he is possible married. They know a lot more about the situation and the goings on. I asked him three thousand and a half questions after he told me no, and the last question I asked is if he was married. I went to sleep not long after as it was late, and he tried calling me three times. In the morning I asked if we could speak over message so that I could keep a clear head because I have a hard time processing and communicating at times, and I have not heard from him since.
That is to say, I'm considering whatever I had with him to be done.
I would also like to add on that I do feel that you are putting a lot of pressure on to woman to settle down at a very early age. It's definitely a very archaic way of thinking. I also do not believe Hekate was being as disrespectful as you were making it out to be, and I do not believe you were being very mature. I'm also not delighted in the fact that my forum asking for advice turned into people telling eachother to put their dicks in their pants considering this was supposed to be an innocent post asking for advice. I wish I would have caught this sooner, but it has already ended. I would advise that instead of turning to insults and derogatory language when in your conversations/debates that you keep it calm and mature. There was no reason for it to come to this, and I'm not impressed in how quickly you became disrespectful when your ideologies were challenged.
Solace wrote:
Move on. Start talking to other people. I understand you feel he is everything you feel you want, however, you have been rejected. I understand you feel there is still a slightly open door called the future. It is not actually there. You have no idea how long this phase of his life will be. You have no idea if he doesn't want any sort of relationship with you and is seeking a soft way to not damage your confidence.
Move on. When your young opportunities can feel like you can't miss this shot, but that isn't true. There are other people to devote yourself to, who are ready to devote themselves to you. I know you don't want to stop talking to this person, but you should start to limit your contact with hm. You will hold yourself back, hoping this person will accept you. You will unfairly compare others to a glorified version of him even if you don't admit it.
23 is young, but it isn't that young. The majority of men in survey's state that they want a young and pure partner which often means under 30 or less. Lets assume you want to be married. You have no relationship experience, meaning you lack the advantage of knowing what you need to hold onto and how to hold onto one. You have spent 8 months, almost a year before considering entering into one. You will likely need couple months or more before you can seriously consider another man. The argument I'm making here is from what you've told us you likely have several relationships to go before you find someone you can marry and at your pace you're going to be pushing your luck on the age thirty metric. Does it mean dating is over for you at thirty? No, but there is statistical evidence that a ladies prospects sharply decline at 30 and every person should play their cards where they have the best chance of succeeding. As a young, relatively pure girl you have a lot of advantages right now in the dating scene and you should put yourself out there quite a bit.
Something you should do, but isn't done often anymore is talk to your parents about how to find a good partner. I don't know your parents current marital status but if they're still together its a strong indicator that they either have some inkling on how to pick a partner or they know how to make it work and can provide good insight to you. Most ladies when they do this tend to speak to their mother, which is good for learning how to keep a relationship but to get one you really need to talk to your father. As a man your father can speak to you about what men want in a girl while cautioning you about the men to avoid. If your parents are not married only speak to to your father about what men want and find another couple you can trust like grandparents or any of your friends parents you get along well with. Ask them to give it to you straight and honest and these people will have a vested interest in seeing you along a straight path.
Good luck, you have everything you need to succeed if you work for it now.