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You’ve probably heard about it, and you’ve definitely experienced it:
Women TEST men that they are romantically interested in.
In fact, if a woman is NOT testing you, then chances are she’s not interested in you sexually.
Tests can be playful and sarcastic or downright angry and mean– but the one thing they have in common is that they are automatic, subconscious, and genetically wired into us as humans.
The points when a woman is most likely to test you are when you first meet and/or when you first start making your sexual intentions clear… and then they start up again with a vengeance at just the point when she realizes that she really likes you and things are getting serious.
Tests also arise during your relationship when she feels insecure OR when you feel insecure (like when life hands you a serious set-back, e.g., losing your job), which can really feel like getting kicked when you’re down.
Today’s example is one that every man in a relationship has experienced:
Everything is cool and fun with a woman you are dating, but as soon as things get more serious she turns… well… CRAZY!
It can totally blind-side you if you don’t know how to handle it. And she will STAY crazy until you either pass the test or the relationship crashes.
But that’s not going to be an issue for YOU anymore, because I’m going to tell you exactly how to get through it fast, easy, and like a champ…
I recently got a version of this question from a man who wrote to me because his girlfriend, who he loves very much, was freaking out and he feared that he was losing her.
Here are the facts he related:
– They used to date casually and see other people, and they always had a great time. But she was always “second choice” for him when there wasn’t someone new around…
– Then one day he realized that he had an absolutely great girl right in front of him and that he’d been taking her for granted, and he invited her into a more serious relationship… HAPPINESS!
– One day they have a misunderstanding when he is out with friends and she accuses him of lying about it. He feels hurt and indignant about being called a liar and says he doesn’t want to be in a relationship with someone who thinks he’s a liar! A big fight ensues, and he says some mean things that he regrets…
– Afterwards, when everyone cools off, they realize the entire thing was a misunderstanding, they both acknowledge their wrongs, and apologize…
– But now the intimacy is messed up, she rarely wants sex, and seems distant and cold. She says that she still feels traumatized by him breaking up with her and his angry words.
If you’ve ever been in a relationship, the basic outline of this probably sounds pretty familiar. When things go from casual to serious, which you think is what she wants, she freaks out.
Here’s how I replied to him:
It’s simply the most common pattern on Earth. As soon as the stakes become higher, we all get more easily triggered as there is now an investment on the table that we can lose.
Casual relationships aren’t so emotionally triggering, but when we add trust and a measure of surrender to the relationship, the thoughts of lies and betrayals now suddenly have the potential to humiliate us and hurt us… except…
None of that is TRUE. It just FEELS that way.
For younger couples this is usually more pronounced: Little jealousies and insecurities that started as just a little doubt can blow up into big fights over nothing.
More experience in relationships begins to give you an easy attitude towards these triggering feelings. You know they aren’t real and you can smile at them with some self-humor.
Women have strong subconscious patterns for testing us when intimacy grows. Learning to pass these tests makes relationships easy, calm, and more loving.
She’s emotionally investing in you now, so the tests will come.
IMPORTANT FACT (that most men just can’t keep straight):
Tests aren’t intentional, they aren’t stupid, they aren’t mean or distrustful…
They come from a deep wisdom in her feminine body as an accurate way to learn how YOU behave under pressure… particularly relationship pressure that might have you leave her when she is with a baby– a very real and life-threatening situation in the natural world that her biology is constantly sorting for.
In the past she was “always second” in your life. Now she is investing and building something with you. She fears that you have lied (and btw, humans DO lie — it’s 100% certain that some day she’ll catch you in a real lie, so it’s worth building these skills NOW). So she feels insecurity, gets triggered, and tests you by calling you a liar, attacking you verbally.
The test is to see if you’ll stand in the fire with her or leave her. It sucks to be called a liar even when you’re guilty… when you’re innocent it’s just outrageous!
You “failed” that test.
That’s why it’s hard for her to recover now. She’s lost some trust in you because, unfair as it sounds, you got as emotional as she did. Worse, you pulled the, “I want to break up!” trigger.
Now I’ll tell you something, and it’s not to “show off,” or prove that I’m a special Buddha with super powers far beyond the ken of mortal men… but there’s no way I would have failed that test.
Because I have studied this and PRACTICED it, I would have responded to that exact situation with easy, calm love. I would have waited for her tantrum to die down. I would have held her and convinced her with an unphased, calm smile that it was okay for her to be upset, okay for her to feel insecurity under the circumstance, and that I’d be here waiting and loving her whenever she was ready.
Of course it took me quite a few years to learn how to do that trick congruently, and I hope you’ll learn it a lot faster!
When you don’t make her wrong for having emotions she’ll emotionally mature quickly, and she won’t lose her temper anymore. She’ll stop attacking completely…
AND… she’ll learn how to manage YOUR irrational emotions when they come up too (and baby, trust me, we men get stupid sometimes too).
Here comes the big brain-fry insight for you: Her now being traumatized and shutting herself off to you is ALSO A TEST.
And this test has to be bigger, because her biology is attempting to figure out if the first test was a false negative. Her biology is saying, “great, we’ve all apologized now, but how do I know he won’t say he wants to break up again the next time I get emotional?”
btw, the easy-peazy way to pass THHIS test is to tell her that you will continue to be a human and have emotional outbursts in the future (though the plan is to keep calm and loving in tough situations), and so will she… but that you will never again break up with her over it. You will never again value “not being called a liar” more than you value her love.
The secret, of course, is that YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IT WHEN YOU SAY IT.
You have to be filled with calm certainty and love. And to do THAT trick, you will have to actually increase your level of commitment to the relationship, for real… which you may not be ready to take on, and which is a very serious life decision.
In other words, the best way to pass tests in a relationship is to actually be the man that she is testing for.
could you shorten this. it’s tltr, too long to read!
Americans and their short attention spans… 🙁
I thought the article was too short. Could you make it longer, please?
Nonsense, if she is mature and serious she will look for the same things in you, I’m not desperate nor foolish, no times for games and teenage temper tantrums, id rather live alone than play games with a persons life what I have to offer is real sincere honest kind affectionate respectful fun challenging, and real take it or leave it.
Awww Joe, I’m so sorry that you feel that way. Sadly being “mature and serious” do not change the basic facts of being human. All the humans that real, sincere, honest, kind, affection, respectful, and fun are also subject to bad moods, occasional bouts of wild irrationality, and insecurities. If you intend to have a relationship with a human and not a robot, you’ve got to deal with that. The other path is just lonely.
I truly enjoy this because of the attention to detail on human nature. Not so much “how to get women” because that truly almost has nothing to do with it. But yet accepting your roll as an animal and understanding the way it works. Not the way you feel. Thumbs up man
Very good! This was helpful! Thank you!!
Great post Alex!
I remember so many times in my relationship where my wife (then girlfriend) would get ridiculously angry at me for what I thought was no reason whatsoever! Learning to be ok with her anger and not threatened by it totally changed the game for us (and made our sex life better too)
Thanks for writing this, more people need to hear it!
Thanks Scott!
Couldn’t stop smiling wile reading this post. I have been failing these tests for years. I’m finally starting to understand so many situations and life could’ve been so much better if I had realised this before.
Thanks Alex.
Yes, yes! I remember when I first started figuring this out I thought, “why didn’t somebody tell me this sooner?!” Because as soon as you get good at passing tests, you stop getting them. It’s strangely ironic.
Allex, you’re so spot on!! That is EXACTLY what happened to me in my previous relationship.. This explains so much, finally i can look back and make sense of things after 3 years!! Now i can really have some closure..You are the man!!
Such a timely reminder Alex. Truly helps me to see ( again , damn it) how insecure I am !! Or at least how I’ve allowed myself to react without mindfulness.
A broad audience you speak to but for me it’s simply and profoundly pushing me to unconditionality ……..deeper spirituality.
Thankyou
Dane
Hey Alex my wife blows up too. Out of nowhere but I think it has more to do with she wanting to leave me. How do I apply this to keeping her.
You make an important point Shawn– just because a woman is angry doesn’t make it a test.
If she wants to leave you, but she hasn’t yet, then I suppose the person she’s angry with is HERSELF for not having the courage to do it… and then she’s taking it out on you as the object of her anger (what Freud called “projection,” and one of his most useful observations in real life).
As to your question of how to keep her– Well the important thing I hope I can get you to agree to is that if she truly wants to leave, you don’t want her to stay. If you truly Love her (I used the capital there intentionally), then you’ll want to help her get what she deeply wants, even if it hurts.
And if you can open a conversation with her with her truly understanding that you want her to get what she truly wants, then you have a chance to begin becoming the man that she wants to stay with.
We (ALL of us) make so many mistakes in relationship that erode the trust, the confidence, and the emotional freedom of our partners. Discovering them and fixing them as you go makes relationships easy, enjoyable, and passionate– deepening over time. But all too often we don’t realize we’re making mistakes. Our partner isn’t communicating in a way that we’re able to understand. Over time these things build up, resentments form, eventually someone throws up their hands and gives up.
Sometimes these things can be giant transformational opportunities in life that offer huge growth, change, and ultimately immense life-satisfaction and joy if we can turn them around. It is big, scary work, but if you are inspired then this is the basis of a conversation with your woman.
On the other hand, sometimes it is the end of the relationship that allows us to be begin again more intelligently, compassionately, and wiser than we were before.
There is no wrong path.
I do hope you’ve gotten a copy of Passion & Attraction That Lasts, the program that I was promoting all week. There is so much important stuff in there for you… whether it successfully resolves your current crisis or not.
I’ve known about these tests for years. What I didn’t know was how to pass them. I fear I failed my last test very badly. Next time I will pass, thanks
Gareth
Thanks Alex and you I do have the program Passion & Attraction and I have learned so much in one week about females. And I notice I said a lot of wrong things. I think more that she may still be around could be cause we have 2 kids.
Great post….I find women rarely do something without “feeling” about it in detail (emotionally or mentally) ….if men operated this way there would be paralysis by analysis and nothing would ever get done. It is neither good or bad but just 2 different operating systems….to respond from only your system point of view will usually miss the desired outcome entirely. .
Passing these tests is very much dependent on how much self-control we men can master or have. Responding too quickly in the heat of the moment just throws us off balance and we lose the plot. The contest then becomes “who wins the irrationality competition”? My favourite defence mechanism is to walk off from the initial confrontation without saying anything and come back when my partner has cooled off and “pass the test”! Not only do I pass the test but I find that I gain more love, trust and RESPECT!
Definitely some of the better advice people can get about spats like these. How about when the girl your dating has anxiety problems, where these irrational fears don’t have a basis in fact or experience? It seems to me (my problem for constantly getting my self into these things, most likely) that for fights like these there is no real right way to handle them, that their anxiety will convince them that the fear isn’t unfounded, even when proven otherwise? Asides from medications to temper the anxiety, and counciling to help deal with the outbursts of irrationality, sometimes these things happen and I can honestly say I have no idea how to safely weather these “test” of anxiety.
Hey Brayden, you’ve asked a question way beyond the scope of this post. “Testing” as I discuss it here is something that happens between normal, mentally and emotionally healthy men and women.
Anxiety problems are not something that I am expert on– but my first thought reading this was: “And who says she has an anxiety problem? Would she agree with this assessment of your relationship, or would she have a very different side of the story?”
If she has a different side to it, then you might be absolutely flabbergasted to discover, if you have the opportunity to work with a very smart couples counselor, that YOU might be triggering her anxiety with all sorts of shadow issues and behaviors that you think are completely normal and justified… but are actually bat-shit crazy.
The reason I mention that is that when I work with couples, at least half the time, the one who thinks they are the “normal” and “healthy” one turns out to be completely unaware of how they are contributing to the problems.
AND… of course, if she has some clinical anxiety problems that are causing her to have irrational bouts of anger towards you, that’s not what this blog post is about.
Some of the ideas may be helpful anyway, but in the end, if her anxiety is sourced in symptoms having nothing to do with you, then there is no way to make long-term progress without her dealing directly with her anxiety through therapy, medication, or some other direct intervention.
What is your take on her biology testing you vs. her biology picking a fight to create an schist so that she can go harvest sperm elsewhere certain times of the month? I realize that sounds so impersonable or textbook question:), but I am curious.
Hey Peter, I know that David Buss and some other scientists have proposed all sorts of theories along those lines, and all I can tell you is that I’ve discussed the issue with many other reputable scientists and professors (including Geoffrey Miller who works in the same field and wrote books on similar topics, e.g., The Mating Mind) who all dismiss it as nonsense. Or more properly, non-science.
There is very little basis for these theories– though equally there is little basis for any other theory as we have very little knowledge of how our not-so-distant ancestors (prior to large-scale social systems like religions taking over) conducted their sexual habits.
It’s like the JFK and Abraham Lincoln conspiracy. If you want to believe it, it’s there to be believed. But there’s not a shred of “real” evidence supporting it.
The truth is that it is exceedingly rare for a woman in a fight with her spouse to run off and cheat during that period.
“…during that period”.
I see what you did there, very deft wit.
How do you win back you’re wife’s heart if it’s possible. After 10 yr of PE and she wants out of marriage.
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Thank you Alex. Excellent as always. I’ve certainly dealt with this many times and in a variety of “test” styles. Some distancing, some aggressive; others, a mix of the two. It is true that no matter how good we are, how mature or at ease in self-respect and identity, we are flawed, human, raw and imperfect. Really, thank God for that fact. Not so much for a predilection toward craziness but toward real vulnerability, growth and intimacy which tends to be born by fire and through trial…relationship trials I have both failed and passed in different seasons, respectively. It’s always both energizing and visceral to read your work. All the best to you, your work and your family.
Robert
Ha! I too have learned about this sort of thing the hard way. Thing is, more often than not, I’ve tended to flunk *her* out, and kick her to the curb prematurely. Sometimes very coldly. I’m not proud of it, and have learned to recognize this sort of thing is not necessarily disrespectful or indicative of an unacceptable pattern of behavior.
Maybe previously I’d been involved with women who were exceptionally in control and level-headed, too, and thought that exceptional sort of situation to be the norm. Talk about not knowing how good one had it!.
But when they’ve freaked out, sometimes I’ve had to take extreme action, such as getting in the car to take off, in order to shut it down if she really crosses the line; but I’ve found that can be OK if it’s from a position of righteous indignation, while not giving up on the relationship. Getting some space, if you will.
To a point about mental health challenges brought up above, I’ve been seeing a woman who has chemical hypersensitivity issues; which by their very nature cause disordered thinking and really crazy behavior. But I’ve been there myself (having greatly improved with a holistic regimen); and so can understand and sympathize; and she’s openly acknowledged it. In a strange way it’s brought us closer together. The key is how supportive one is aside from those infrequent instances.
Another thing is that maybe a lot more people have such issues on this toxic planet.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make
your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste
your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be
giving us something informative to read?
Just a question of hours in the day my friend.
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation however I to find this matter to be really something that I believe I might never understand. It sort of feels too complicated and very vast for me. I’m looking ahead on your next submit, I will try to get the hold of it!
I though this was helpful. I’m going through this at the moment and have thought about ending the relationship. Now i won’t even mention it. I’m amped to get back on track now. Thanks man