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Does Coffee Always Have To Be A Date?

Q: Dear Love Jays,

 I was wondering about this illustrious coffee date. I know it’s supposed to be simple, but it still confuses. Coffee is my go-to. I’ll take my best friend (boy and girl best friend) to coffee and I’ll take a “date” there. But if I want to go with a friend to just test the waters… is it still a date? What are some “non-date” activities when getting to know someone better so that they don’t jump to conclusions?

A: Dear Looking for “Non-Date” Activities,

The good ‘ole coffee date. Easily, without fail, the easiest and cheapest way to hang out with a friend or potential love interest. The atmosphere is always right, you can typically find a comfy sofa to sit on and purchase a little bite to eat without having to look at an illustrious menu. I would recommend finding a local “mom and pop” coffee shop over the typical Starbucks or Coffee Bean – switch it up and be original.

If you are looking to test the waters with someone, I would still recommend going to coffee. If they decide to jump to conclusions and make it “datey”, that’s on them. How you approach someone is the most important aspect of eliminating the confusion on whether or not it’s a date. If you are sweating bullets, fumbling your words, avoiding eye-contact or rubbing your clammy hands on the side of your jeans, chances are you may tip the other person off on how you feel. Find a way to mention it within a normal conversation, so it doesn’t seem out of the blue. You can always act as if you are in a hurry to go somewhere and simply suggest coffee to finish up the conversation. It’s easy and most people won’t think twice about it.  Moral of the story – if you’re awkward, it becomes awkward.

As for other “non-date” activities, keep it social. Invite some friends over for a movie or game night. Go to a happy hour and have some drinks. The more people around, the less “datey” it will feel. If none of those sound fun, you can always stalk their social media accounts and find out all the information you would need. I wouldn’t recommend the stalk approach, but it is becoming increasingly popular.

Cheers!

Mr. J

A: Dear When Coffee is a Date,

Coffee, ice cream, happy hour or day “dates”. They can all be a very noncommittal way to get to know a person, or they can be as serious as a true first date. The difference between the two is up to you.

The best way to keep someone from jumping to conclusions is to be clear about your intentions. You do not have to blatantly say, “I am not sure if I am into you that way so this is JUST coffee.” But you can say something along the lines of “Let’s meet up later this week and grab drinks. I have [insert whatever activity you clearly have to go to alone] to go to right after, but I’ve got an hour to spare and I’d love to pick your brain about [insert whatever topic].” This way the person knows you have limited amount of time and you will indeed JUST be having drinks/coffee/ice cream etc.

If that is still a little too “datey” for you go for the friend tactic, but be careful how you execute this plan as well. If you invite someone to hang out alone with just you and your close friends they are going to think you like them. Make sure you invite them to an event or something where there will be plenty of people and tell them to bring friends too.

Hopefully this helps! 

 Love,

Miss J 

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Jealous or Just Over Thinking?

Q: Dear Love Jays,

 I’m best friends with a guy. (I’m a girl.) I find myself jealous of his girlfriend though I’ve thought it through and know I don’t want to date him. I find myself feeling like I should distance myself from him, but he’s a great friend to me and we’re really close. I’m single and think maybe if I was in a relationship I wouldn’t feel like there’s an imbalance in the power dynamics of our relationship. Am I over thinking this? What do y’all think?

A: Dear Role Replacement,

I’ve always held the belief that it is very difficult to maintain a best friend relationship between men and women. Notice I said difficult, not impossible.

We are naturally attracted to each other and as these friendships progress, the feelings of “this is just my friend” can easily turn into “I want to be more than friends”.  Who wouldn’t want to date the person who knows everything about you? The person you share your innermost thoughts and feelings? The person who is always there when you need to talk? Shoot, just typing all of this makes me want to date my best friend, too! Fortunately for me, I’m already dating her. (Insert “awwwww” moment).

You clearly stated you aren’t interested in dating your friend, so I’m going to believe you. Though you may not be interested in him romantically, you have a vested interest in the special relationship the two of you share…and I don’t blame you. It’s nice to have those relationships. Unfortunately, these relationships have to take on different forms when a significant other comes into the picture. One of the most crucial parts of any relationship is time. Time is everything. When the two of you were single, he didn’t have to commit time to a specific person, but now he does. The reason you are feeling jealous of his girlfriend is simple – she is getting more time and attention, which has resulted in less time and attention directed to you.

It’s an uncomfortable and awkward feeling to embrace, but understand it’s all a part of the growing process. If he really is your best friend, support his new relationship and take advantage of the moments when you guys talk or spend time together. Change is inevitable and those who welcome it will always come out on top!

Sincerely,

Mr. J

A: Dear I Am Jealous of My Best Friend’s Girlfriend,

I think we can all get a little territorial when it comes to your best friend dating someone new. Someone new means things are going to change, and sometimes we don’t want things to change because we already like everything just the way it is.

You said you don’t want to date your friend, that’s the good news. You can still be friends! The bad news is you do have to share and give up the title of “main woman” in his life.

Sharing does not mean you have to give him up as a friend completely. There is still room for a non-romantic relationship in his life. When two single people of the opposite sex engage in a deep friendship, lines often get blurred. Even if you guys have not been intimate (at least you did not mention that you were), there are still little things you have to adjust. He can no longer be your go-to guy when you need a +1 or be your date on Friday night when you just want to cook dinner, lay on the couch and watch a movie.  Up until now you have both been a friend as well as a filler for a boyfriend/ girlfriend to one another. It’s natural, but things have now changed and that’s ok.

The fact you acknowledged you might not be experience these feelings if you had a relationship as well tells me you are a logical person and you will definitely be ok. I think it would be fair to say you aren’t jealous your friend is with someone, you are just longing for company of your own.

Make sure the girl he is with knows you come in peace and enjoy your friendship with your best friend for what it is now. Your special someone will come soon enough. 🙂

Love,

Miss J 

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Unconditional Love Part 1

This will probably be a 2 or 3 parter so bear with me!

During the holiday season I had a conversation that really struck a chord. My family and I were sitting around the dinner table and a family member brought up the concept of unconditional love. His argument was that unconditional love does not really exist because everyone’s love has conditions. 

Admittedly I was quick to agree. It made perfect sense. For example, I have a HUGE problem with cheating. I don’t understand it and I see it as a valid reason to terminate a relationship. Ergo my love has a limit and/or condition. Some challenged the idea; however eventually,like me, they were pretty quick to accept love is indeed conditional. 

The conversation died down just as fast as it started and soon we were back to talking about turkey and family gossip, but I couldn’t shake the realization that unconditional love does not and never did exist. 

From that point on I went on a “love bender”. I was devastated. How is it that I am not capable of loving unconditionally? Wait a minute,  if that’s true than the reverse must be too. I can’t be loved unconditionally? What a cruel joke life had pulled! 

I decided I was going to have to find the answer for myself. If it turned out to be true, fine. I would just have to deal with it. If it turned out to be false, awesome! So for the next couple of weeks I will take you through my journey and what I discovered about unconditional love. 

In the meantime, what are your thoughts? Do you think love has conditions? If yes, why? If no, why not? I want to hear from you!

Love, 

Miss J 

See Unconditional Love Part 2 here!

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While we ponder love’s conditions, listen to this song about falling in love having a condition 🙂 How did I not notice this before?! 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfAb0gNPy6s]

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It’s All About Sex

Q: Dear Love Jays,

I’m sure this will sound like a silly problem to have, but it seems to be on my mind a lot.

My boyfriend has an extremely high sex drive (abnormally high actually, even for a guy). I keep up pretty well! And I’m always flattered by how much he wants me or how much he’s attracted to me (and just me too). However, I frequently find myself upset because despite whether we are in great moods, having a serious conversation, having fun, or fighting like crazy, practically everything that comes out of his mouth is sex-oriented. Everything is always about sex, usually. Things always seem to be very sexual or physical.

What do you guys think??

A: Dear Hyperactive Sex Drive,

More often than not, we hear stories about people getting frustrated with a lack of sexaul activity within thier relationship. While I do believe not being sexed right will lead to problems, being oversexed just might lead to problems as well.

Let’s be candid. Sex is an important aspect of most relationships. It’s how we communicate physically with those we care about…most times. And just like any other language, we have to practice and learn the best ways to incorporate it within our relationship.

Sex must be handled responsibly. Shifting our focus to “all-sex-everything” may be a sign of emotional immaturity and a lack of understanding on how to effectively communicate our feelings with our partner. It’s okay to have sex – I’m not arguing against it. But it’s important to understand that sex is only one aspect of the relationship. A strong relationship must be well-rounded and equally proportioned.

If it’s really starting to bother you, I would encourage you to initiate a conversation with your boyfriend. Explain to him how you are feeling and try to figure out why sex is the only thing on his mind. As I always say, communication is key.

Sincerely,

Mr. J

A: Dear Crazy [Sex] Drive Me Crazy, 

We live in an overly sexualized society. There are sexual stimuli EVERYWHERE! Add those stimuli to a man with a healthy dose of testosterone and voila, we have your boyfriend. 

Studies show, on average, men think of sexual activity about once every hour. Let’s say that the man is awake for 15 hours, he has now (supposedly) thought about sex 15 times that day. Now let’s say the man has an overactive sex drive and for arguments sake he maybe has thought about sex twice an hour making his total thought count 30 times in one day. If he sees something/someone (you)  who can relive his desire he is going to go for it, no matter what the mood. 

Girl World Clarification: You have made the declaration to hit the gym and stay away from sweets. You wake up to discover aunt Flo has come to town and all you want is Yogurtland’s chocolate froyo. You  resist the urge because you will have Heidi Klum’s legs in a month even if it kills you. As the day goes by little things keep reminding you of Yogurtland’s chocolate froyo. You go to the gym and have an ok work out, even though you know it could have been better, at least it was better than nothing. You have to meet a friend for dinner, and on your way there you pass a Yogurtland. You resist again. At dinner you order a vegetables and maybe baked chicken, but you are not satisfied. All you want is Yogurtland’s chocolate froyo. As you are leaving the restaurant you notice another froyo shop, it’s not Yogurtland. It’s not necessarily the right time; but you have been thinking about chocolate froyo all day, and you did at least go to the gym.That’s it! You are going to get it right here, right now! Chocolate froyo is chocolate froyo, right?

To sum it up your man is spending a lot of time thinking about sex and you have become the solution to his sex craving. That’s why no matter what is going on in your relationship at the time he still wants to do it. He wants it and he wants it BAD. It even sounds like he has removed emotion from the sex equation and made it a very regular physical need. Sex should not just be something you do habitually. 

The best thing you can do is break it down to him. Nicely of course. You said you often find yourself upset, it’s time to let him know! You are not a sex object, nor will you tolerate him treating you as such. 

I’m going to get some chocolate froyo now! 

Good Luck! 

Love, 

Miss J 

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