Priorities

It took me a long time to figure out how to deal with people. My biggest fault in this area is wanting people to be a part of my life and then becoming sad that they didn't want to be a part of mine. My solution was to implement a "three strikes rule", which is the only way I've found to sort out where a person's priorities are. This isn't to say that I'm good at following my own rule, but so it goes.


Basically, I have a tendency to ask people to hang out or chat or otherwise engage me more than what they'd like. In order to align my expectations properly, I now (loosely) keep track of how many times I contact someone first and they're not receptive to the engagement. If I reach out first three times in a row, the person has struck out. It's now their job to put a new offer on the table (bring a batter up to the plate?). If they don't, I drop out of their life.

On the flip side of this, if someone is reaching out and engaging me, I try to match their level of engagement. If someone wants to make me a priority in their life, I will gladly return the favor.

That all being said, I'm not very good at all of this. Especially when a woman is involved. I still try though.