{"id":246,"date":"2018-11-01T15:12:41","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T15:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/?p=246"},"modified":"2018-11-01T15:12:41","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T15:12:41","slug":"doesnt-matter-really-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html","title":{"rendered":"Why It Doesn&#8217;t Matter What He Really Means"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-247 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/411\/2018\/11\/alexis-brown-85793-unsplash-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"alexis-brown-85793-unsplash\" width=\"534\" height=\"356\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I get a lot of questions about what guys say versus what they really mean. \u00a0So I thought I&#8217;d take a moment to answer them, all of them, because, simply, it doesn&#8217;t matter what he &#8220;really&#8221; means. \u00a0What matters is what he&#8217;s saying to you.<\/p>\n<p>Simply put, if somebody you&#8217;re in a relationship says something to you, you generally need to take it at face value. \u00a0Why?<\/p>\n<p>Because life&#8217;s too short to do otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s start with what this question usually centers around: it&#8217;s less about what he &#8220;really means&#8221; and more about &#8220;please tell me I&#8217;m not hearing this correctly&#8221;. \u00a0Sorry, but you probably are. \u00a0It&#8217;s an understandable reflex; everybody&#8217;s had that moment where they hear something nasty or heartbreaking or just awful and they can&#8217;t quite believe it. \u00a0That was a mistake, right? \u00a0You didn&#8217;t say what I thought you said.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, denial isn&#8217;t a useful tactic (really, it&#8217;s never a useful tactic, but that&#8217;s another post). \u00a0You need to deal with what&#8217;s going on in your relationship, instead of worrying about something else that might be happening only in your head.<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t to say men aren&#8217;t capable of playing emotional games: everybody is capable of playing emotional games. \u00a0Despite the stereotype, if we know anybody well enough, we&#8217;re more than capable of pushing each other&#8217;s buttons. \u00a0But emotional games suck, and the only way to &#8220;win&#8221; them is not to play them.<\/p>\n<p>Say he meant something else by whatever he said&#8230;so what? \u00a0You still need to take it at face value. \u00a0Communication is the foundation of any relationship: if you can&#8217;t communicate, you don&#8217;t have a relationship. \u00a0So trying to deliberately confuse things by telling a person one thing while meaning another is a crappy thing to do.<\/p>\n<p>One way or the other, the gameplayer needs to learn that, and the best way to do it is to refuse to play. \u00a0If a guy tells you something awful like &#8220;I don&#8217;t love you anymore&#8221;, it doesn&#8217;t matter if he thinks he still loves you. \u00a0He doesn&#8217;t, or he wouldn&#8217;t be pulling a stunt like this.<\/p>\n<p>So, in the end, whether he really means what he&#8217;s saying, or he doesn&#8217;t, take what he&#8217;s saying at face value. \u00a0In the end, what else can you do?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I get a lot of questions about what guys say versus what they really mean. \u00a0So I thought I&#8217;d take a moment to answer them, all of them, because, simply, it doesn&#8217;t matter what he &#8220;really&#8221; means. \u00a0What matters is what he&#8217;s saying to you. Simply put, if somebody you&#8217;re in a relationship says something&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":620,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why It Doesn&#039;t Matter What He Really Means - Make Your Relationship Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why It Doesn&#039;t Matter What He Really Means - Make Your Relationship Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I get a lot of questions about what guys say versus what they really mean. \u00a0So I thought I&#8217;d take a moment to answer them, all of them, because, simply, it doesn&#8217;t matter what he &#8220;really&#8221; means. \u00a0What matters is what he&#8217;s saying to you. Simply put, if somebody you&#8217;re in a relationship says something&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Make Your Relationship Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-01T15:12:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/files\/2018\/11\/alexis-brown-85793-unsplash-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex Wise\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why It Doesn't Matter What He Really Means - Make Your Relationship Work","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why It Doesn't Matter What He Really Means - Make Your Relationship Work","og_description":"I get a lot of questions about what guys say versus what they really mean. \u00a0So I thought I&#8217;d take a moment to answer them, all of them, because, simply, it doesn&#8217;t matter what he &#8220;really&#8221; means. \u00a0What matters is what he&#8217;s saying to you. Simply put, if somebody you&#8217;re in a relationship says something&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html","og_site_name":"Make Your Relationship Work","article_published_time":"2018-11-01T15:12:41+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/files\/2018\/11\/alexis-brown-85793-unsplash-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"Alex Wise","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html","name":"Why It Doesn't Matter What He Really Means - Make Your Relationship Work","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/files\/2018\/11\/alexis-brown-85793-unsplash-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-01T15:12:41+00:00","dateModified":"2018-11-01T15:12:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/#\/schema\/person\/bb1a6f316ea30c450e6f03a651e64888"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/files\/2018\/11\/alexis-brown-85793-unsplash-300x200.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/files\/2018\/11\/alexis-brown-85793-unsplash-300x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/2018\/11\/doesnt-matter-really-means.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why It Doesn&#8217;t Matter What He Really Means"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/","name":"Make Your Relationship Work","description":"Relationship Improvement, Lifestyle Development, Personal Growth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/#\/schema\/person\/bb1a6f316ea30c450e6f03a651e64888","name":"Alex Wise","description":"Welcome to my blog. I\u2019m Alex. I\u2019m just a normal guy like any other guy. But what makes me different, is what makes you want to keep your eye out for my blog. I\u2019ve been studying social dynamics and personal development for the last 15 years. I\u2019ve helped men in meeting women. I\u2019ve helped men reaching their goals in life and I\u2019ve helped myself develop the lifestyle that I want. You can learn all that and draw from my experience through my blog. Why should you read this blog? The goal is simply giving you the tools and knowledge in how you can change your life and create the lifestyle that you want. Do you want to improve your dating life? Do you have goals you don\u2019t know how to reach? Do you feel that your life is boring and feel stuck? I will share my years of experience and knowledge in exactly those areas. Areas in the past which I had trouble with too. However I\u2019ve found the key to solving those problems and I\u2019m sharing it all here, so you don\u2019t have to go through years of trial and error like me. What is lifestyle development? Lifestyle development deals with every area of your life whether it\u2019s being relationships, finances, health or personal growth. The blog\u2019s aim is to help you create the amazing lifestyle that you want. Through my blog you will be able to follow my experiences and lessons. Articles and videos aimed to educate and motivate you into taking the necessary steps in getting the life you deserve. I am also a freelance editor and writer for Loveawake.com dating site.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/author\/awise"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/makeyourrelationshipwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}