DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: I am a long time reader of your blog and I would like to thank you for all your good advice. I have pretty much all the general nerd problems when trying to find a girlfriend, and you seem to tackle all of them in your articles.

However I have an additional problem that is added to the usual problems. And that problem is, I have a chronic illness. It is not really noticeable now, but it will get worse over time, since it is progressive. It is slowly attacking my nerves, and I might even end up in a wheelchair.

I really want a long term relationship, so this is something my hypothetical future girlfriend will have to deal with. And therein lies the problem.

First of all: How and when do I tell her about my disease? Too early, and she would probably run away. Too late and she would think I am dishonest. All the advice I could find on relationships and chronic illnesses is about dealing with it when you already have a partner.

Secondly, a guy who also has the disease told me that he failed to take into account when he got the disease, his girlfriend also ‘got it’. It cost him his relationship. I am not convinced girls see me as good boyfriend material anyway, and adding this illness to it only makes it worse. I feel like I would be complicating a persons life,and I hate that.

I hope you can give me some sound advice,

Uncertain Future

DEAR UNCERTAIN FUTURE: This is a tough one, UF, because there aren’t really any easy answers. I’m not going to lie: you’re going to have a harder time than most when it comes to long-term relationships. A chronic illness, especially one that may necessitate a partner becoming a caregiver, can be a deal-breaker for a lot of people. It can be a pretty damned high price of admission for most people. Many people can handle the IDEA of a chronic condition, especially a potentially debilitating one, when it’s off in the theoretical future. When it becomes a part of their day-to-day reality… some people realize too late that they just can’t handle it.

However, difficult doesn’t mean impossible. There are people out there, men and women who have the strength to love someone even knowing that one day that their partner may face serious health issues. One of my friends was dating a woman with multiple sclerosis. When she explained to him about her disease and what it could potentially mean for her, he thought about it and said “Guess we’re going to have to make sure any house we live in is handicapped accessible.” They’ve been married for several years now and are expecting a second child in the next few months.

In general, I’m a fan of early disclosure with most issues, whether it’s kinks or health issues or relationship preferences. However, dropping the progressive-illness bomb on someone early on will probably scare people away… even people who might have the strength and the courage to face it once they’ve become more invested in you and your relationship together. At the same time, you don’t want to spring it long after the two of you have gotten serious; she’s going to feel as though she had been lied to.

So here’s what I suggest: bring it up sooner rather than later, but before the two of you become serious. Personally, I’d disclose before sex enters the equation, but you definitely need to have it before someone drops the “L-word”. If you’re reaching the point that you’re starting to consider exclusivity and you haven’t brought this up, then it’s time to have The Talk. You want to give her the low-down on what you have and what it could potentially mean.

However.

As I always say, it’s about presentation. You don’t want to treat this as something shameful or something horrific. This is part of what makes you, you after all, and presumably it’s that you she’s fallen in love with. So you re-frame the situation. It’s part of who you are, something that’s shaped your world view and made you the person you are today. It’s made you appreciate the little things and take the long view. You’ve learned to savor life all the more and how to live to the fullest.

Will some people still balk? Yes, probably. But at the same time: these are not people you want to be in a long-term relationship with. It’s going to suck at times, but you’re going to be better off in the long-run. When you find someone who not only loves you but has the inner strength to stand by you when things progress… well, that’s when you know you’ve found someone amazing, and that sort of person is well worth the time and energy it takes to find.

Good luck.

DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: This question came up when I ended my first relationship a few weeks ago. He was the one to initiate the breakup, and although he apologized quickly about his end before we broke up, I was feeling pretty raw on the inside and I was unable to talk to him about what had happened between us at all. We spoke to each other a few times before college ended in mid-June, but never about the relationship. Now I’m in another country and he’s working in a different city so I don’t think I will be able to see him in person until school starts in late September… if it even does. Today, I sent him an apology of around 200 words through e-mail and I wanted to know what I did in the apology that was okay and what I did that wasn’t okay.

2) I was sorry about the way I acted in the relationship and the emotional burden I placed on him.

1) I first told him that the reason this sorry came late was because for a while, I wasn’t ready to talk to him about anything that had happened between us.

3) I admitted that I was going through a lot of unrelated stress and I didn’t know how much I was hurting him, but that didn’t excuse the fact that I hurt him or made him feel uncomfortable.

4) I am taking full responsibility for my actions and accepting whatever comes next.

I have lots of questions. If we were on polite speaking terms, should I still have apologized? Is it wrong or too late to apologize a month and a half after the relationship ended? 

Did I do it wrong? If I did, what’s the right way to apologize? Is the reason to apologize because you know you hurt that person or because you feel guilty or both? I feel like I was doing this because I wanted to take responsibility for what happened as well. I’m okay with however he replies: if he severs contact with me, that’s fine as well. I just know that I want to be honest and I don’t want to be the person who blames what went wrong on other people. The only reason I didn’t apologize earlier was because I was in a state of emotional shock. I had various feelings including wanting to beg him to take me back, some anger, and definite regret, but I was pretty calm with him whenever I spoke to him. So this is one of those situations where the uncertainty is killing me and I have no idea what to do or how to feel. Help me Doctor! How can I make apologies worth it?

Sincerely,

Awkward Apologizing A

DEAR AWKWARD APOLOGIZING A: Let’s see: you took your time to collect your thoughts and examine your feelings before you contacted him so you could be as calm and objective as you could. You explained your side of things, how you felt and took responsibility for the things you said and did. You kept it brief and you did it in a way that gives him a chance to think on things and doesn’t put him on the spot to reply right away.

Really, as far as apologies go, that’s pretty much textbook perfect.

I don’t necessarily believe in the need for apologies after a break-up; they can be nice to have, but they’re hardly a requirement. Sometimes they can be well-meaning but end up making things worse – I’ve seen plenty of “coming clean” apologies that would’ve been better off remaining unsaid, but the apologizer decided that unloading his or her guilt was more important than sparing their ex pain. This is part of why I advocate the nuclear option in break-ups; sometimes the best thing is to just cut ties and wait for time and perspective to work their magic.

In the end it depends ultimately on what your intentions are. Were you hoping to mend some open wounds in the hopes of staying on good terms with your ex and salvaging a friendship in the future? Were you hoping to get the emotional upper hand in the breakup? Were you hoping to get back together? Sort that out in your head and you’ll understand more about how you feel.

Good luck.

Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com

DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: I am super unsure as to what I really, truly, want in my relationship. I have been dating my current girlfriend for 10 months, and I’ve been very happy for the most part.

I feel as though I should provide some context for the rest of my message, though. Increasingly, a past interest who I’ll name ‘M’ has been on my mind. As much as I do not like this, I have flirted with her regularly for the past several weeks. My current girlfriend (for convenience ‘J’) has been nothing but wonderful and supportive of me. I’m super happy with ‘J’ but I have been feeling unfulfilled despite how much I care for her.

‘J’ helped me to become comfortable with my sexuality while dating the opposite gender (I’m a bi guy), and I know that she is still incredibly into me. I, however, am not sure I feel the same. Honestly, I’m just confused as to whether or not I am responding to attention, or to an actual, true feeling of mine. I’d appreciate any advice you have on confusion during relationships!

Sincerely,

What Do I Want?

DEAR WHAT DO I WANT: The first thing I feel that I have to point out is that being into other people doesn’t mean that you’re not into your partner, WDIW. If you’ve read me for long enough, then you already can sing along with the chorus: monogamy isn’t our default state. The fact that you’re attracted to people — including your ex — doesn’t automatically mean that something is wrong with your relationship. It just means that you’re a human with a sex-drive. A monogamous commitment just means that you promise not to date or sleep with other people; it doesn’t mean that you won’t want to.

Now that being said: I think you aren’t doing yourself any favors by flirting with your ex. While your attraction to her doesn’t have anything to do with your relationship to J, it can create problems where they may not necessarily exist already. The thrill of the new or different can clash with the comfort of the relationship you already have and make any discontentment seem larger and more meaningful by comparison. But those problems are just as likely to exist with other partners; you just haven’t been with them for long enough to encounter them. Or, in the case of exes and past crushes, you’ve been away for so long that nostalgia has filed away all the rough patches. It’s easy to feel like maybe this relationship isn’t right for you when this other one feels so much more exciting and perfect than the one you’ve been in for longer.

By that same token, however, this doesn’t mean that maybe your current relationship is right for you any more. You and your partner never stop growing as people. Hopefully you both grow and change together… but sometimes you grow apart too. That doesn’t mean that anyone has done anything wrong; it just means that you and your partner are going in different directions and this relationship doesn’t fit who you are now. Not every love story is meant to be an epic poem. Some are just meant to be a short story, and that’s fine. Hell, some are just meant to be a dirty limerick.

How do you tell dissatisfaction brought on by a new infatuation vs. an actual problem within your relationship? Well, some of this only comes with time and experience; the more relationship experience you have under your belt, the better you’re able to sort out infatuation and limerence from a deeper and more meaningful attraction. Similarly, the more you’ve dealt with the slings and arrows that come with dating another person — and the more you’re aware of your own needs in a relationship — the more you can tell when there’s an actual problem or whether you’re being distracted by the shiny new toy.

The first thing I would suggest is to knock off the flirting with M. I get that her interest and attention can be intoxicating, but for now you’re inviting trouble that you don’t need. If your dissatisfaction with J starts to fade within a couple of weeks of cutting things with M, then you’ve got your answer: you were getting off on the fact that someone else finds you hot. That doesn’t make you a bad person; that just makes you human, like the rest of us. However, if you find that you’re still bothered by your relationship with J, even without a potential new partner lurking in the background… well, then you know that your feeling unfulfilled was actually the check-engine light of your relationship, rather than something brought on by the allure of getting some strange.

Regardless, I think it would be a good idea that you do some hard thinking and interrogating your feelings about J. “Unfulfilled” covers a lot of territory. What, precisely, are you feeling like you’re missing? Is it simply the case that you’re not as attracted to her as you were in the beginning? Is it that things aren’t as exciting as they were in the early months? Are you finding that you have needs that aren’t being met, or is it just that this relationship hasn’t been as easy or effortless as it was at the start? The more you can dial in on the precise shape and texture of this unfulfilled feeling, the more you can tell whether it’s something to discuss with J or not. After all, the fact that you’re not necessarily feeling fulfilled doesn’t mean that this is a permanent situation. This could well be something that could be resolved with some conversations — awkward or otherwise.

Being into someone else doesn’t mean that the relationship is over. Being a little dissatisfied doesn’t mean that the relationship is flawed beyond repair. It’s an indication that you should pay attention. A little more mindfulness right now can mean the difference between a relationship that can be fixed, or one that’s reached its natural end.

Good luck.

Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com

DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: First off, thanks for the great work you do! Without you, nerds would probably be a dying breed.

I’m a 37 year old cis man, who recently turned his life around. I have a mild form of autism and have never been very outgoing or socially savvy. After briefly living on my own during college, I moved back in with my parents. I was bullied at school when I was young, and I think this left deep scars, I have always had feelings inferiority somehow.

I led a mostly solitary life with few friends (with my circle of friends dwindling as the years went by) and no hobbies to speak of besides tinkering on my computer and the usual things like watching movies and series. I’d never even so much as kissed a girl. Expressing my interest in a girl was something I thought was scary as hell. In retrospect, there had been a few opportunities but I was either too scared to act on them, or too oblivious to even RECOGNISE them. All in all, I was a lonely virgin loser. All the while I was employed and saved quite a bit of money. I wasn’t overweight, had decent personal hygiene and dressed fairly well. I’m also highly intelligent. This made no sense to me at all and I felt rather raw about it. In retrospect it’s obvious: if you keep to yourself, you won’t find a partner. As I grew older, I often despaired that I would die alone and unloved, and I spent way too much time feeling sorry for myself. I think I might have been depressed without realising it… 

Then one day, I got a colleague who acted friendly towards me. This made me realise that I could actually MAYBE get a girlfriend. I decided I wanted to attract her, but I was completely out of my depth and totally blew it due to my fear, neediness and overall lack of experience. I couldn’t even get her on a date.

It took a year to get over her, or rather the sting of not being able to attract her. However, this colleague was the kick in the ass that I needed to improve my life. I bought a house of my own, started working out, took up meditation and martial arts, and read a lot about “game” and body language. I stopped watching porn cold turkey. Occasionally I’ve attended Meetup groups. I started seeing a psychologist to help me work on understanding how attraction and social relations work, and try to improve my life overall. People noticed and said they don’t recognise me anymore (in a good way).

I’ve stepped way out of my comfort zone and tried cold approach through day game a few times. Overall, I found it pretty grueling. Nine times out of ten, the reactions are positive but I’ve noticed that most of the women I seem to like are already taken. The few numbers of single women I got never got back to me. It seems like a lot of effort for very little gain. But the idea does appeal to me, the fantasy of becoming a player and beating the odds. But deep down I really just want to find one woman who likes me for me and lead a quiet life. I went on a handful of blind dates through a local agency which organizes these, none of which went anywhere, and also one through a friend. To be honest, I didn’t feel anything at all for most of these women.

But I’m super proud that I finally had sex for the first time last year, which I had not expected ever to happen anymore! This was with a woman from my martial arts class. She was married, and it only lasted a few months. To be honest I did not find her beautiful at all, but she was very much into me. She was truly amazed and honored that I would consider loving her, and she always initiated sex a few minutes after meeting up with me, which I found incredibly hot. I think she saw me as the hottest guy she’s ever known. This has restored some of my fragile self esteem.

But then COVID-19 hit, and I feel like I am back to where I was two years ago, with almost no social contact because everything has shut down. I can’t go to martial arts class or meetups anymore and I feel myself falling back on old patterns and thoughts. It looks like the lockdown will last at least until September in my country, by which time I’ll probably have lost all my gains so far if I can’t practice my social skills and do things that bring me joy. I can literally feel myself backsliding.

I thought about trying day game again, but I decided against it because of social distancing (but it might also be an excuse I tell myself to chicken out). How could one attract a woman now without even being able to offer a basic hand shake? Also, dating is hard with all the social gatherings being closed off. Walking in the park is something you can only do so often before it gets old, and inviting a woman over to come cook with you might be too eager if you do it too soon. I find remote conversations impersonal and you can’t have any physical intimacy this way either (and my soul aches for more sexual experiences).

So, to sum up: how can I regain my momentum and avoid sliding back into a depression? I’m again starting to believe that there’s no hope and I loathe the idea of going back after this hard-won victory.

All the best,

Stuck in Neutral

DEAR STUCK IN NEUTRAL: To start with SIN, congratulations on the progress you’ve been making. You’ve come a long way and you should be proud of everything you’ve achieved.

Now with that having been said: I worry that you may have taken some of the wrong lessons from your experiences thus far. One of the mistakes a lot of folks make — especially folks who are just starting to get some social success — is that you’re starting to be results oriented. Case in point: the way hooking up with the woman from your martial arts class makes you feel like a million bucks… but without further results, you’re starting to feel like you’re worthless again.

The thing is: you can’t rely on other people for your validation. One of the hardest lessons to learn when it comes to getting better with women — or just improving socially at all — is that your value comes from within. It doesn’t come from the people who think you’re hot, it doesn’t come from the people you’re hooking up with, nor does it come from your job, your car or other external sources. It has to come from recognizing and believing in your own worth. Otherwise you end up giving up your locus of control and letting other people dictate how you feel. After all: even the most skilled seducers don’t go 5 for 5; there will always be people who aren’t going to dig you no matter what. And the thing is: those reasons often have nothing to do with you. Letting those moments wreck your flow will set you back far further than the COVID-19 pandemic. Your successes and your progress are still there, even when you’re having to self-isolate. You’re not losing points just because you can’t go out (and there’s nowhere to go, even if you did). Your achievements are still there. Your value is still there. You’re just having to press pause on certain aspects of your life, same as the rest of us.

But the fact that we all have to stay home and continue flattening the curve doesn’t mean that you can’t be social or work on meeting new and awesome people. Despite the fact that we’re all in isolation, people are still meeting, dating, falling in love and, yes, having sex.  The key is that you’re going to have to accept the current limitations and think outside the box.

The most obvious thing you can do is start hitting the dating apps. The desire to meet and connect is still strong, even in the most trying times… in fact, in many cases, it’s even stronger. Eros and Thanatos go hand in hand after all; many people react to stress and the fear of sickness and death by wanting to reaffirm life in the most obvious and immediate way possible. And in its way, this works to your advantage. Since we can’t go out and hook up, we have to date with intention. We have to put the effort in and rely on our social skills, our wit, charm and charisma to connect with folks. We’re in an era where courtship reigns because hey, we can’t just hit up the bars and hope to run into someone with an itch that needs to be scratched.

This means you have many, many opportunities to keep developing your skills, even as you try to make connections that will last well past the quarantine and into the new, post-COVID world.

You can keep your social skills sharp in other ways as well. Since we can’t gather in person, now’s the time to get your friends together for some virtual social gatherings. Organizing and scheduling regular get-togethers means that you don’t have to let your social skills get rusty. You can also join virtual MeetUps; more and more groups are having Zoom events and finding ways to make things work in video conference software instead of in person. Arranging and orchestrating these events have positive effects on your social life over all. To start with, it helps you keep and maintain those social networks you’ve spent so much time building up. But just as importantly: they give you things to invite potential partners to take part in, which lets you show off just a little as the guy who makes the cool s

t happen. And once you get used to making these events happen online, it doesn’t take much to make them happen in the physical world too. In fact, being the organizer who gets your friends together for a barbecue, a NERF war in the park, even just out doing cool things once we’re all allowed out and about again will help make you a more interesting and desirable potential partner to the folks you’ve been flirting with on Tinder and Hinge.

But — and I hate to say it — it’s going to have to be over the Internet for a while. Unfortunately, the risks to you and others are just too high to try going out to meet new people. Without widespread, regular testing, it’s impossible to know who’s been exposed, who’s a carrier and who’s infected but asymptomatic. And without a vaccine… well, even if you catch a minor case, other people are still at risk. For now, hooking up or sleeping with folks we’re not currently quarantined with is just too risky. Sorry. It sucks, I know, but it’s the sacrifice we’re all having to make.

However, the fact your interactions aren’t in person doesn’t make them any less valid or useful. Talking to people via Skype is still talking to people. Flirting over FaceTime is still flirting. Telling jokes in your Zoom meeting stretches the same social muscles. And don’t underestimate the potential hotness that can come from a horny Skype session with a new partner or the thrill of sexting with someone you’re getting close to. Some dirty talk, some racy photos back and forth over Snapchat, even some cam sessions together on Skype (maybe with the help of some toys from Tenga or Fleshlight) can be incredibly satisfying… and keep both of you ready for the moment the quarantine is over.

It’s not what you’d prefer, no. I get that. But part of life is rolling with the punches and adapting to what it throws at us. This is just another challenge in your journey. It’s up to you to decide whether this is going to be the thing that throws you back or if you’re ready to level up to meet it.

Good luck.

Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com