Who hasn't been here at some point?

Who hasn't been here at some point?

Let me begin by stating that I’m not sexist. I just don’t know what it’s like to have a boyfriend (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Secondly, as some of you already know, I’m married so I haven’t had a “girlfriend” in what seems like eternity. I am a one-woman kind of guy. Luckily, I have a pretty good memory of what it was like to have girlfriends.

On with it. Here’s why I think having a blog is like having a girlfriend.

The first several days are euphoric.

After reaching your goal of having one, you feel absolutely great. You’re almost in disbelief how amazing it feels! Time passes so fast and you’re taking in every moment. You wake up with a smile on your face and go to bed with a bigger smile. (I’m talking about being happy, what are you thinking about?) What could go wrong?

After a two weeks, you still feel great but realize that you are in a committed relationship.

You’re still having a great time and the butterflies are still floating around in your stomach. In fact, you’re so wrapped up in your new relationship that you don’t even have much time to think long-term. You just know that you’re attached to it and, as a result, see less and less of your friends. BTW, your friends notice more than you since you’re blindly smitten and have no concept of how much you’re leaving your former life behind.

Within a month, you can’t imagine life without your new  plaything.

Although the honeymoon period is over and you start noticing things that you don’t like about her, you feel that the good still outweighs the bad by a landslide. Reality sinks in that you are no longer free to do whatever you want but you convince yourself that it’s OK. You continue to spend money on her to show her your affection.

After two months, you learn that you have to nurture the relationship.

After a few minor disagreements, you realize that you just can’t “be yourself”. Keeping her happy keeps you happy. That means you have to constantly look at her needs and fill them. This requires more time that you originally bargained for. You also start to miss the things you did before you jumped into this relationship.

After six months, the constant attention that she demands is taxing you.

You don’t even remember what it was like before she walked into your life. However, you continue to do what it takes to meet the everyday demands of being in a relationship like this. A good part of your life is spent making sure that she doesn’t have a reason to make you unhappy. By now, you’ve burned several holes in your pocket in order to satisfy her. (That means you’ve spent money, you sicko!) If you had known six months ago how much work this is going to be, you might have never started this in the first place.

In a year’s time, you know you have to make a decision.

You question whether or not you’re truly committed. You either have to cut her out of your life or be ready to take it to another level. You need guidance so you start asking your friends (who barely know you at this point), talking to strangers about your relationship, and even soliciting the advice of [gasp] your family.

And after that?

Hopefully, it turns out great for you. You forge ahead and continue to build a wonderful relationship with her. Through good times and not-so-good times, you really are in a relationship. Doing it half-assed is worse than not doing it at all.

Maybe the timing isn’t right. Maybe she’s not the right one. Maybe you’re not meant to be a good partner. Maybe you have other priorities that you need taken care of first.

Your girlfriend blog will need TLC. It requires a bit of money but more importantly, a lot of your time. Furthermore, you can’t really measure ROI on it since there are so many non-monetary benefits.

At the end of the day, you can get all the counsel you can want but no one can decide but you. Just don’t leave her hanging…

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