What in the Woman...
Hey there everyone, happy Dudesday! So sorry this post is a day late but with a whopping 38 days until graduation, school is kicking my tail! I've only really moved from my desk to go to class the past week and a half.
All that to say, writing these blogs and working on STG are my wonderful little break times that I treasure.
Speaking of treasures, let's talk about the women in your life. While this post is part of the HTG series, this is helpful to the ladies as well. Unless I know someone super duper well, it can be difficult to shop for, or understand them. BUT I've done my research and am ready to share everything that I've found out.
Gift Guide:
Holidays and special occasions can be difficult when there's gifts involved, especially if you're trying to buy gifts for all the people in your life but you're also budgeting as well as wanting the gifts to be special and meaningful. My first tip to you is every girls favorite playground: Target. Target has this really cool category on their website titled "Gift Ideas." Once you pick who you're shopping for, in this case her, it'll offer you a budget range.You can pick anywhere from under $15- over $100. If you don't have a budget preference, you can simply pick a category of things they're into, ex. baking, style, tech, reading, etc. I have found that these gift guides are very handy when you're at the point where actually going to the store and looking around is just too overwhelming.
My other piece of advice for this is to keep it simple. If you're thinking this much about what to give them, you obviously know her well and care about her, so take a deep breath and focus on that. If she usually only wears silver jewelry, stick to silver and when you see something that you can picture her wearing, get that one.
If she's more experience oriented, plan a date day. Go somewhere she's talked about wanting to go, take her to a theme park if she loves rollercoasters, if she loves goat go do goat yoga. You know her, stop overthinking it...TRUST YOUR GUT.
The Food Debate
We've all know that conversation where you ask her what she wants to eat and she says she doesn't know or doesn't care. Well here's how to avoid that:
Give her 3-5 options, or ask her for 3-5 options. If you suggest the options it takes the pressure of picking somewhere too expensive or that you don't like off of her shoulders. If she gives you 3-5 options, then you have the freedom to pick something that is financially appropriate as well as something that you also like, once again taking those concerns off of her. Us girls can get worried that we're hurting your wallet or forcing you to eat something you don't like, so help us out a little.
Ask her to seriously guess where y'all are going. She's going to guess one of two things, your regular spot or what is at the forefront of her mind. When she guesses, you affirm that she's right and in reality you just tricked her into picking. You're welcome.
When She's Complaining
Now there's three kinds of complaining. The first one is the negative kind. The kind that comes from selfishness and a sense of entitlement. Where she gets mad that there's a 10 minute wait at the restaurant, or the kind where she talks trash about the waitress for getting her order wrong instead of politely asking for it to be fixed. This is where you, as a man in her life, get to hold her accountable.
Then we have the other two kinds of "complaining." These are the ones where she's indirectly asking for something. For example, sometimes when a girl complains that she can't do something, that it's too hard, or something that implies that she's not good enough - she's asking for your affirmation or help. It doesn't mean, do this for me, it usually means help me -- literally and emotionally.
The second miscommunicated kind of complaining is the venting. Us girls tend to keep our emotions about .1 of a centimeter under the skin and our hearts have taken up permanent residence on our sleeves. Sometimes we just need to rant about it, and despite how logical the male species tends to be, let us just get it out first. Girls usually need to get it all out in order to process it. Once we can get over the frustration, we can begin to assess the logical solutions. This is where you can start talking while also listening. But be sure to pursue the logical solutions gently.
Alright, now you might have been hoping for more. But I'm not going to break girl-code and give away all of the secrets. Also, the most fun part of platonic or romantic relationships is the never ending process of getting to know each other. Studies say that everyone is 3-4 different people throughout their lifetime, and why would you want to miss out on getting to know each person wrapped up in your person?
So go get to know your people better, and if necessary, refer back to this post!
I'll see you all Thursday!
ttyl,
Carrie <3
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