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Oct 2011 17

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Jaeci

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.


[Jaeci in Be My Lover]

Q: I’m in an odd situation that makes me feel like I’m living in some crazy romance sitcom. I flirt, a LOT, and normally it’s all completely harmless. Then one night my boss (who happens to be my age, early twenties, and one of those man whores that just oozes charm – he’s that kind of guy you just love to hate) took it from just being jokes to us actually messing around. There was no sex, just basic fun and teasing.

At first I thought it was going to be fun, even a bit sexy in that “dirty secret” kind of way. But it is so complicated! And I know it’s complicated because of him. He makes this whole thing suck. He’s always busy and completely terrified of us getting caught. We almost never hang out, which means we almost never do anything. It seems like we only have “fun” if we close together and everyone else leaves before we do.

I decided that the whole thing was stupid and that I was done and started leaving him alone. When I did that he started screwing with my head and saying just the right things to get me all flustered. When he does this, he’s all I can think about for awhile. And he does it every time I start leaving him alone.

But the part that confuses the hell out of me is if I try and hang out with him, even blatantly agree to have sex when he suggested it, NOTHING HAPPENS. Then rise, repeat. I leave him alone, he starts going out of his way to get my attention. I don’t know what to do about it anymore. He mind fucks away all of my common sense. I would just like to have sex with him and get it over with, but I have no idea how to go about it, or even if it’s possible with a guy like him.

I can’t talk about any of this with anyone here since no one is supposed to know (and my best friend told me I shouldn’t even flirt with him since I am “way to cute for him,” which makes me even less inclined to ask her for an opinion). I can’t get any input on what I should/could be doing, then I saw your post on twitter and figured I’d ask the lovely ladies of SG that might be a bit more open minded to me just wanting to have a good time with this.

What do I do with this situation? Is there still potential for some fun, or has this whole thing just turned into a lost cause? And if it is a lost cause, would you have any recommendations for screwing with his head? I think some karma would be nice LOL!

A: Alright, my girl, there’s one major thing here that tells me how to direct you. I’ll even quote someone involved in the situation — you. “He makes this whole thing suck.” Hmm?

A “dirty little secret” affair, whether or not is a good idea, is supposed to be fun, sexy, and exciting. This doesn’t sound terribly fun, sexy, OR exciting. Get your wits about you, and play off his advances. When you really want to sleep with someone, you sleep with someone. He could have a million reasons for not pursuing a sexual relationship with you. He could be afraid of what will happen if you actually sleep together and eventually something goes wrong between you — sexual harassment claims, the leverage he fears you’ll have over him, etc. It could also be a case of someone wanting something they know they shouldn’t have. Or the classic thrill-of-the-chase syndrome, wherein the catch does not seem as interesting as the pursuit.

The attention you give him is for sure boosting his ego — but as it seems he’s got enough of that as it is, you can drop it. You definitely haven’t made any kind of case that would suggest that he is worth pursuing. Sounds like high time you stop responding to his flirtations.

I’m not saying to be mean. In fact, that would be foolish — he’s your boss. Be casual and friendly, but pour the proverbial bucket of cold water on your head and make your hots for him fizzle out.

Also, there’s no need for some kind of karmic piñata smashing where you swing blindly at the dude’s balls and hope to get him back for leading you on. If you like your job, don’t actively mess with your boss. Your lack of interest will be enough of a mindfuck for him. Just leave it alone, leave him alone, and you’ll silently put him back in his place — he’s your boss, you’re his employee, it could have been hot, instead it was lame. Go back to being on friendly terms, now everyone zip up your pants, it wasn’t getting anywhere anyway.

Lots of luck!

Jaeci

PS. I have had a boss-affair, I speak from experience, and I judge you not.

PPS. If you’re looking for a guy to sleep with, don’t pick someone “you just love to hate.” Seriously, lady! 😉

***

Got Problems? Let SuicideGirls’ team of Agony Aunts provide solutions. Email questions to: gotproblems@suicidegirls.com

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Oct 2011 14

by Yashar Ali


[Ajilee in How To Fake An Orgasm]

It’s great to be a man in our society, the perks seem to be endless. Everything is built with the intention of accommodating our needs. It’s fantastic, really. We men are constantly validated.

And the bedroom is one place where we receive consistent validation. I’m talking about women faking orgasms and giving us the sense that we’re the greatest lovers that have ever lived.

What a terrific arrangement for men. We get all the sexual pleasure and the feeling that we have satisfied the woman we’re sleeping with, without actually having done so.

A woman faking an orgasm is now sort of, just part of the deal, isn’t it? You just do it; it’s almost like something that’s passed down from generation to generation, like makeup tips or a recipe. It’s a gift women give to men, because it’ll just keep him satisfied and calm.

I couldn’t disagree more.
I think it’s a major offense to women and their sexual selves. And it shouldn’t be casual water cooler conversation nor should it be reserved for women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan.

The fake orgasm should be examined as a systemic problem in our society.

A Temple University study, featured in the CBS News column, “Study: Most Women Fake Orgasms — But Why?” shows around 60 percent of women have faked an orgasm.

This all comes down to conditioning. From a very early age, women are taught to satisfy the fiery male ego. The fake orgasm is just another moment in which a woman sacrifices for a man without receiving anything in return and worse, it leaves them feeling sexually unfulfilled.

Today, when we see the female orgasm covered in the mainstream, it’s dealt with in a comedic way. We see Meg Ryan’s character in When Harry Met Sally screaming at the top of her lungs (in a diner) or we see an Herbal Essences commercial with a woman having a massive orgasm over fabulous shampoo. We find the sound of a woman faking an orgasm to be funny.

It’s not. It’s the sound of an unsatisfied woman working to satisfy the already exploding male ego.

We don’t talk publicly about the orgasm gap in the mainstream — but that doesn’t surprise me. Our male-dominated society would never want to expose the fact that women are faking orgasms en masse, and that men really aren’t satisfying women in droves.

However, the numbers reveal something more clarifying. According to the ABC News article, “Female Orgasm May Be Tied to ‘Rule of Thumb,’” 15 percent of surveyed women have NEVER had an orgasm (I wonder if its much higher in reality). And the same surveys show that 75 percent of women don’t reach orgasm during intercourse — that’s right, gentleman.

So why do women fake it?

Two major reasons stick out as I spoke with many women over the past two months: feeding the male ego and time.

“It just makes him happy, it feels more complete,” said one friend.

“But does it leaving YOU feeling complete?” I asked.

“No, it leaves me feeling like I am just a tool for his orgasm.”

That comment reminded me of what my friend D’Andra’s grandmother used to tell her, “Sex is for men, sex is for their benefit.”

Imagine growing up with that ideology…

Many women fake their orgasms as a means to end an un-pleasurable sexual process.

“I don’t have time. I can’t sit here while he plows away like a jack rabbit, it’s not fun for me when it’s like that.”

A woman writer I know mentioned that a man should never ask a woman if she fakes it.

I disagree. The male ego has been coddled for way too long. Enough is enough. We have to blow the cover off the secret world women are living; in this case, it’s a world where we get everything we want and they usually get nothing. And we teach women that it’s just the way things are and always have been.

This is how I see it: the fake orgasm is not compartmentalized from the rest of what women have to do. It sits at the core of a larger dismissal of a woman’s needs and desires, extrapolating across all parts of their lives, work, life, home. Women are not simply a tool for our sexual pleasure, they are ultimately a tool for making every part of our lives easier.

Many of the women I’ve talked with see faking an orgasm as a little gift, a favor for the man they’re with. That makes no sense to me. Faking an orgasm is not like making him a snack after he comes home from work or remembering what kind of beer he likes to drink.

It’s not that having an orgasm is critical during every sexual juncture; it’s that faking it takes women away from themselves. Faking it with any regularity generally leads to a path of a lifetime of sexual dissatisfaction, and dissatisfaction in general.

But too many women treat sex as an activity left in the bedroom — they see it as an isolated activity. I disagree. Sex is important and if the man displays a lack of care in the bedroom, is he thoughtful in other areas of a woman’s life?

We condition men to maintain women, to keep them satisfied on a periodic basis. We don’t condition them to think about their day-to-day needs — the same basic needs women think about with regard to the men in their life.

Most women have yet to discover their true sexual power — not power over others— but the power they can feel within themselves. So when men maintain women by doing a little here and there in the bedroom, and women fake it, it just leads to a diminishing of female power.

What I find to be remarkable is the lengths to which this culture will go to ensure men are sexually satisfied. We spend billions of dollars to produce drugs, like Viagra and Cialis, for erectile dysfunction, providing seventy-year-old men with the possibility of a thirty-six hour erection. But discussion about the millions of women who don’t have orgasms or are sexually dissatisfied is shoved into the fringes.

Most of the women I spoke to saw porn, and the men who watch it regularly, as a root cause for this need to fake orgasms. For the record, I don’t fundamentally see a problem with porn. Rather, my issue is with the kind of porn that is defined as mainstream and is made specifically for men. An entire generation of porn watching men (thanks to the internet), now have this idea that women climax by instantly screaming at the top of their lungs as soon as they see a penis…give me a break.

My friend Nina Hartley, feminist, registered nurse, and porn icon, has a take on porn that may come as unexpected, given her vocation, “Well, if any person is watching porn to get an idea of how actual people have sex, then they need their heads examined. Porn is FANTASY, like a live-action cartoon, and shouldn’t be taken seriously as sex ed.”

But there seems to be a bigger issue here: how our society sees women and their needs.

“Women are so complicated,” one of my guy friends said, when I asked him about women’s sexual needs.

No, actually they’re not. While certain women may need more concentration, effort, or focus to reach orgasm, I don’t think that makes them complicated.

We persist in this illusion that women are sexually and emotional complicated so we don’t have to show them the care and affection they need. We can put it on them. It’s really easy to say, “Oh, she’s so complicated,” as if a woman is a labyrinth that only three men in the world can solve.

As a result, we can justify why we don’t or can’t give her what she needs, because it’s just too hard to figure her out.

There’s a pretty simple formula here: women want what we men want.

Don’t be a jerk. Ask her what she wants, and when she tells you, see it as a fantastic opportunity to please her. Don’t think it’s a personal assault on your manhood. Basically, do what she does for you.

For most men, sex is carnal; it’s about the raw pleasure. But for too many women, sex is often a cerebral process. One in which they have to think and plan when to fake an orgasm, when to make everything perfect for the man in their lives. They are pleasing our massive egos, instead of pleasing themselves.

I’m tired of the fake orgasm being treated by women’s magazines like the newest lipstick color or the season’s best handbag. We treat a woman faking an orgasm so casually. It is a BIG deal. It should no longer be seen as an act of convenience or consideration, but rather, an act of submission: submission to the male ego and submission to our screwed up rules about women and sexuality. We condition and encourage women to submit across the board, and in the case of sex, it is the most fundamental part of a woman’s identity, whether they know it or not. And by her sexual identity, I am not necessarily saying that it’s about sex with others, I am referring to her sexual self.

So how does this all boil down in terms of the role men have to play? I think in terms of our perception of sex, women see it as an experience and men are conditioned to see it as a performance. We see it as a one-man performance, one in which we are the star, the director, the producer — it’s how we condition men to exist in life with respect to the way in which they relate to women.

It’s like the Wizard of Oz. On the surface, you see a lot pomp and circumstance, but if you peek behind the curtain, there’s a scared little man who has not only been taught to focus on himself, but has also been taught that focusing and pleasing a woman, on her terms, is an act of submission and weakness.

I try to avoid being and sounding prescriptive in my writing, but in this case I am begging women to put the fake orgasm out of business. Men don’t need or deserve more validation — we get it every day, in many different ways.

It’s time for women to seek the sexual (and all other types of) pleasure that has been, for too long, absent or lost in their lives.

And it’s time for men to stop automatically assuming that they are fantastic in bed.

Frankly, it’s time for men to assume we aren’t that great in bed, until we are told otherwise…and not by a fake orgasm.

***

Yashar Ali is a Los Angeles-based columnist, commentator, and political veteran whose writings about women, gender inequality, political heroism, and society are showcased on his website, The Current Conscience. Please follow him on Twitter and join him on Facebook.

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Oct 2011 13

by Laurelin

I was sitting at the bar tonight with a few friends, waiting for my boyfriend, like always. He said he might come out, but I knew he wouldn’t. It was his birthday, and he wasn’t coming. We had had a great night out the night before, but still, I always said a relationship can be measured by the amount of time I spend looking towards the door, waiting for you to walk through it. With him, I do it a lot. In the beginning he would always come, now, not so much. I’m lonely a lot; I spend most nights alone, missing him.

It’s always the nights that you’re most vulnerable that something odd happens, and tonight was no different. My ex boyfriend walked though that door and I could have cried. All I have been thinking lately is how even though he and I were wrong for one another, he was still always there for me. Every night he eagerly came home, and, even after we knew we weren’t in love with one another anymore, he still came home and held me, still wanted to be around me all the time. We were best friends. Part of us will always be just that, no matter how much time goes by.

He had been drinking, I could tell the second he motioned me to join him at a table for two. He hugged me for a little too long and then leaned over. “I’m leaving soon, —-” he said, calling me by our pet name for one another. “I’m moving to LA, and I’m going this week. I’m not telling anyone but you, because you’re the only person I’ve ever cared about.”

A million things run through my mind before I can answer. I can’t imagine this bar scene without him. It’s true, I have created my own name in Boston, especially in the past year, but parts of him linger everywhere I go. “Bittersweet,” I think. We don’t talk much anymore, he and I. But I know that I will miss him impossibly once I know he’s gone.

He grabs my hand and leads me to the jukebox; he always wants to monopolize the music when he’s been drinking. “What do you want to hear?” he asks, and starts punching in letters before I can even answer. “I know,” he says. He plays Pearl Jam’s “Black,” Tom Petty’s “Even the Losers,” Adele’s “Right As Rain,” and Eddie Vedder’s “Hard Sun.” My songs. I look towards the door and glance at my cell phone one last time, knowing my boyfriend isn’t coming, wondering about this guy I’m with who knows me better than I know myself. I know I’ll walk home alone and sleep alone again tonight, and I know my ex has nowhere to stay until he leaves for L.A. I wait until the last of the songs play, and I go to leave.

“This might be the last time we’re out together,” my ex says.

I manage a smile. “Don’t say that,” I say. “I’ll come see you.”

“I hope so,” he says, his hand resting on my waist for just a moment. “Goodbye.”

I leave, alone, and don’t look back. I walk home slowly, and I linger on the pedestrian footbridge overlooking the city lights. Boston is glowing, and everything falls silent. I want to cry but no tears come; I don’t know how I got here, or where to go next. I could stand here and watch the skyline for hours, but I don’t. My cell phone buzzes in my pocket. It’s my boyfriend, saying he’s going to bed. “I’m sorry,” he says, for what seems like the 100th time.

“I’m sorry too,” I think, before turning away from the city lights and heading for home.

[..]

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Oct 2011 03

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Squee and Clio

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.


[Squee in Philosophy]

Q: I’ve been with my boyfriend for a year and a half. We work really well together, and he legitimately makes me happy. Here is the issue; my upbringing was incredibly sheltered. He is the only person I have been with sexually, while he has had plenty of sexual experiences and encounters. He knows that my upbringing has resulted in me being very, very curious about sex and sexuality, and has been amazingly supportive of my questions and ideas and urges to try knew things.

He is even accepting of me experiencing sex with a woman at some point. (I know, what guy isn’t! But if you knew him and how he is you would see why this is a HUGE deal). That being said, I recently brought up the idea of buying one of those Clone A Willy kits. It’s a kit that allows you to make a vibrating replica of any penis you want. For a long time I’ve wanted to delve into the world of sex toys, so when I approached him I was pretty enthusiastic. But to my surprise, he was livid. He was angry and hurt that I would even want to try such a thing. He reaction was so shocking that I’m kinda afraid to bring it up again. I just don’t understand how he can say yes to sex with a whole person but no to a toy. Am I missing something?

A: I must admit, I would also presume most men would have more of an issue with sex with another person than with an object. If I were you I would try and talk to him about it again. I wouldn’t approach it from the angle that your really want to use toys and would like him to be more understanding. I would sit down and try and find out what upset him so much about the idea. Explain to him how important it is to you that you can be open and able to discuss these kinds of things, and let him know you’d just like to understand what he really dislikes about the idea.

He might have a serious reason that he just won’t budge on, or maybe he has some kind of small hang-up that you can talk out and overcome. Either way, it sounds like he has been incredibly patient with you, and it sounds like it’s your turn to be patient with him. If he continues to put his foot down and not want to talk about it, I think you will just have to assess how happy you are with that situation. If he still makes you happy and toys don’t seem so important, then that’s great. If being unable to experiment leaves you feeling uneasy and repressed, then you may have to reassess your situation.

Good luck. I hope you manage to talk things out!

 


Squee
xxx

***


[Clio in Born Into A Light]

Q: My boyfriend left me after two years of dating. He says it’s for a while. We made a stupid deal that I only agreed because I love him and do not want to be without him. The deal is to be just friends for seven months, and although it has a little over a month and I’m still just devastated.

He asks me for money and favors. Of course I give him what he wants, because I love him. But apparently he does not think the same with me, because when I want to be with him, just to watch a movie and talked for a while, he is always busy. He keeps saying he loves me. He says the reason for separation is so we can become strong as individuals so we can be together without problems.

I know I am a dependent person, but I tried not to choke him, and now I do not call him or write him –– only when I have something important to say or ask. I do not know what to do.

A: Dear Blinded-by-Love, I’m sorry you got dumped and are now caught up in this lame situation. From what you wrote, it seems to me that he’s over your relationship and is just using you to do shit for him and lend him cash. The decision to take a break was obviously one-sided, putting him in control. Don’t give him this kind of power over you and stop letting him take advantage of you ASAP!

There is no guarantee that in seven months things will magically be better and that you two can have an untroubled relationship again, so either tell him how you feel and work out the problems together, become less dependent on him, or accept that he sucks for letting you go and move on. If he loves you like he says he does, he will listen to what you have to say and work towards a better relationship with you in a way that works for you both. But if he keeps being ‘too busy’ to talk, you should draw your own conclusions. I hope things work out for you!

Clio
xoxo

***

Got Problems? Let SuicideGirls’ team of Agony Aunts provide solutions. Email questions to: gotproblems@suicidegirls.com

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Sep 2011 26

by Laurelin

God damn this blinking cursor in front of me, mocking me. Usually a blank page sits in front of me and I feel calm, able to take a deep breath and start over with a refined touch and total control over my words. But not lately. Now I feel so much anger and hurt that I can’t even see anything besides a black swirl, all my words pouring jumbled out of my bloodshot eyes. I’m tired. I’m tired of working six nights a week and two days, sometimes having a day off here and there to fulfill an obligation to someone else rather than myself. Rushing to the train, rushing to the next state, rushing to meet a deadline when all I want to do is collapse. I am just exhausted. And no one is here to catch me as I’m falling to sleep. No one is there when I wake up. How can someone be in a relationship and still feel so alone?

I always tell my friends that as happy as I am with this new guy, I can’t help but have this sinking feeling that it’s just going in a really odd direction. I spend a lot more time feeling alone, lonely and missing him, than I do happily next to him. Working at the bar doesn’t really allow much time for dating. We got to know one another at work. We talk about bartending. We talk about booze. We drink beer. We stay up late and drink. I wonder what would happen if someone removed beer and the bar. We would have…Nothing. Which means that essentially, we have nothing to stand on — it’s just liquid to stand in. It’s horrible to even type, but it’s been filling my head lately that what I have is simply nothing at all.

I got drunk the other night after my shift while he was working and with a little bit of liquid courage down the hatch I gave him a quick quiz. “We’ve been dating for three months,” I said. “What’s my favorite color?” He looked confused.

“Uh… red?” He said.

“No. It’s pink. But I guess you wouldn’t know that,” I said, turning up my nose. He looked baffled for a minute and then wandered off. I dropped the subject.

I try, I really do. What days off do we both have this week? Maybe we can fit in lunch one day before we go to work. For some reason, nothing ever seems to work besides work. How is it possible that one person in a relationship can be happy with only sharing smirks over a beer tap or holding hands after I finish day bar in the brief time before he comes on to work the night shift? Don’t people need to have sex, sleep in, go see movies, go to dinner, meet each other’s families? I can feel myself getting weaker, becoming someone who chases after someone else, and I can taste bile rising in the back of my throat — that girl makes me sick. I shouldn’t have to chase after anyone to spend time with me, especially someone who calls themselves my boyfriend. How did this happen? How did I become this person and how do I get rid of it? Make her go AWAY. This girl is not me.

Part of me just has to laugh about all of this. I was in a relationship and not the happiest. I got dumped, I was sad. I found the silver lining, started dating, met idiots. Met an idiot that I liked. Thought he was different, new relationship, new problems, not the happiest. Damn you bar scene, damn you. My head is spinning, and I keep thinking back to a few weeks ago when my roommate and I went to go see a psychic. I don’t really believe in that junk –– fate, dead spirits and energies and all that –– but I don’t exactly not believe in it either. So, if for $30 someone can talk to me about stuff I don’t understand, sure, let’s have at it.

The psychic was probably just over 30, a few years older than me. She said I was creative, and that I spent too much time dwelling on past relationships and that I needed to learn to let things go. (Who doesn’t that apply to.) Then she said she didn’t really understand my current relationship. She looked confused for a minute and said, “He doesn’t know you. He thinks he does, and he thinks you’re great. And you ARE great. But…he doesn’t really know why you’re great. It’s not going to last. You’re going to end it, and you’re going to say, ‘You’re not even going to miss ME,’ and he’s going to be so upset, but you’re right.”

I hate to base my argument on why a relationship should end on something a psychic told me. But it’s like…this stranger just added a strange validation to my argument. Nothing solid to stand on, only our bar scene. Beer. Late nights. Liquid. I don’t chase after anyone, it’s not my style. Running however, that’s right up my alley, and luckily, nothing runs better than liquid.

[..]

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Sep 2011 26

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Rydell

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.


[Rydell in Changing Seasons]

Q: So my ex girlfriend (who broke up with me) unblocked my number and started contacting me again and started showing up at my house randomly. After having a few weeks to deal with being single I found I didn’t mind it, but now my ex is trying to get back with me and I’m confused as to what to do. Part of me doesn’t want to go down this road again, while another part of me doesn’t mind giving it another shot. Should I just tough it out and tell her I don’t want anything to do with her, or give her another chance? Thank you for your time and input.

A: Well honestly I think everything happens for a reason, whether it be that you get back with your ex or not. But I think the break up happened for a reason and you should examine why she felt she didn’t want to be in the relationship, and if you really want to get back into it or not. Usually second chances in relationships just don’t work out. Granted they can, but you both have to be very invested into making it work the second time around.

You need to sit down and weigh up the pros and cons of getting back into it versus staying out and starting fresh with another person. You also need to figure out if anything has changed that will make it more or less likely to work out a second time around. You may find some surprising answers, which will help to make your choice a bit easier. Just step outside of yourself and try to look at it from someone else’s point of view with no emotional attachment. Yes, that is hard, but it helps when making a better educated choice on your part.



I wish I could offer more guidance on this, but I don’t have enough info on your relationship dynamic, so I can only send you a wide range response, but I think it will get you on the path you need to make the right choice for you.

Rydell

***

Got Problems? Let SuicideGirls’ team of Agony Aunts provide solutions. Email questions to: gotproblems@suicidegirls.com

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Sep 2011 19

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Rin

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.


[Rin in Voyeur]

Q: My girlfriend just broke up with me recently after four years of dating and almost a year of being engaged. I never thought this would happen but she just up and left for reasons she would never tell me.

With all that behind me, my real question is what to do now? I have tried going out to meet people but with no luck. I have tried online sites but they seem just as bad as going out for meeting new people. I do have a few friends around but just find myself so lonely all the time. I work from home which doesn’t really help. It’s a good job working on computers and I make great money, but it doesn’t help me meet people at all. I just don’t know what to do with myself and find myself fighting loneliness all the time.

A: Regrouping after the breakup of a long-term relationship can be very difficult. The first thing to address is your loneliness. You’ve mentioned you work from home and make a good income. If you don’t already have one, you should purchase a laptop and take as much of your work outside the house as possible. Even if it’s just for an hour or two a day, hanging out in a coffee shop and working will give you a nice dose of people. Choose a pleasant coffee shop, even if it’s out of your way. Maybe it’s in the neighborhood you want to live in, or maybe it just has a great atmosphere.

When you’re lonely, it’s important to reach out to your friends. They care about you and want to see you happy –– try to make two or three friend outings every week. Good friends are the backbone of getting through a breakup.

Because you work at home and are in a low place right now, you should consider adding some physical activity to your weekly routine. Exercise releases all sorts of beneficial chemicals in our brains, like serotonin and endorphins. Cultivating a feeling of wellbeing will definitely help with your loneliness and put you in a good place for when you do meet someone new. Joining a gym would be the easiest step, but you could also try yoga, team sports, or just go running in your own neighborhood. Lifting weights at home would also do the trick, though it doesn’t have the added potential social benefits.

Since you just got out of a relationship, give yourself some time to recuperate before you stress about meeting someone new. Make new goals — find things you can achieve on your own. Spend time figuring out what makes you happy, then do it! In a long-term relationship we can lose ourselves and it can be really empowering, when single, to find out what we want to do and just do it without worrying about the repercussions.

Maybe she was against you getting tattoos; maybe she didn’t like it when you went out with your friends and came home late; maybe she hated it when you played your favorite album on repeat for three hours straight. Now is your time to do whatever the fuck you want without needing the approval of another person. Discover the good parts of being single. It sounds contradictory, but it’s true! Sometimes being single is fun.

Hope those suggestions are helpful to you!

Rin

***

Got Problems? Let SuicideGirls’ team of Agony Aunts provide solutions. Email questions to: gotproblems@suicidegirls.com