Woe Man
A fictional short-short story
At 32, I think I’m giving up on romantic relationships. I’ve had some good ones but, on average, they’ve increasingly become more problem than they’re worth. So despite the time-honored belief that people are better off coupled, maybe I’m not.
Out of bed, men generally have more in common with men than with women. I do have one good female platonic friend and a couple of close male platonic ones, And I enjoy my work, my hobbies, and at the risk of being a stereotypical man, I like gadgets — I just bought a light meter to check if I’m treating my houseplants well. So I don’t really miss having a romantic relationship.
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I’m less relational than many women are, so I only feel the need to check in with friends maybe every couple of weeks plus an occasional short road trip.
I’ve been trying this no-romance experiment for a year now and net, I’m happier. I think back to all the fights with girlfriends. When I was wrong, I usually readily admitted it. But often, I was confident I was right and she was factually wrong or irrational. I shook my head when a woman claimed I was gaslighting her, mansplaining, or that men suck, phrases I’ve increasingly heard and not just about me. Many women seem comfortable generalizing across our entire sex, half the population. If I made such a generalization about women, I’d be strung up by my balls.
I’m not sure I’ll stay with this no-romance experiment, but for now, I want to go solo. Better solo than so-so.
I read this aloud on YouTube
Marty is a career and personal coach, and author of 34 books including Soloists. You can reach him at mnemko@gmail.com
