Dated a younger guy

Sometimes people don’t always say what they really mean. Even you seem to think his *not ready* for a relationship is just an excuse for what he is not saying because you put it in quotes (or asterisks!). Reading between the lines, it seems that this guy decided you and he weren’t a good romantic match and he backed off. You have said in your post that you were skeptical of things working out romantically with him. Well it seems that he was also. Therefore, it seems as if you both weren’t sure of the outcome but you both decided to give it a try. There is nothing wrong with that and people do it all the time. (Read posts here!). A really important thing right now is for you to “own” your own skepticism about converting this friendship to romance and be honest with yourself that you weren’t sure about changing a friendship into a romantic relationship with him. If you can see that, you possibly won’t be too disheartened about it not becoming a romantic relationship. And you will see that you have done nothing wrong, and should be proud that you were adventurous enough to give it a try. And if it didn’t (or doesn’t ) work, that’s okay. Not every friendship converts into romance. If you value him as a friend, keep the friendship. But give things time to clear — for yourself. That means giving yourself permission not to contact him and giving yourself some space and time. As much as you need. You don’t have to justify that to him or to explain why. Just withdraw for a while while you take a bit of time to recover. Take care of yourself first, don’t worry about what he is going through or his reaction. He can take care of himself — as he has shown. This time is for you — and you alone. When and if you do run into him again in the future, you will be ready to be friendly but discerning, and appropriate and genuine in your response. That is the best gift you can give yourself — permission to take care of yourself first. Most important though also, to address your fear issues — for any future relationships.

[b]Nancy[/b] gave you great advice! 😀 I hope you’ll learn from this relationship to trust your instincts. Relationships with men of all ages can work out fine, but your instincts are your best source of knowing whether something will or won’t work. Also, understanding that dating is a process and that you have to play the game [i]wisely[/i] to win, will help. I hope you’ll buy and read Think & Date Like A Man, a book I wrote for women who want to find, get and keep Mr. Right. It’s got a lot of good information for you – especially now in your life. Here’s the link where you can buy it: [url]http://www.askapril.com/relationship-dating-advice/think-and-date-like-a-man.html[/url]. You can also purchase it on the websites for Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

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I’m glad I could help. Let me know what you think of the book and if it helps! 😀

I also hope you’ll follow me @AskAprilcom (no dot!) on Twitter.