The Emotional Differences Between Men And Women – Part Two | Richard Drobnick

Men and women are different. Our brains are wired differently, our hormones are different, and our emotional needs are different. What usually happens is that men do for women what men need and women do for men what women need. We tend to give what we want to receive. So, in the case of relationships, do NOT do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

This month’s article will focus on what women wish men knew about them by listing below just a few ways men can better understand their partners. Please see last month’s article: The Emotional Differences between Men and Women – Part One, What Men Wished Women Knew About Them.

Ladies, please share the following with your men!

“I need to rant.” A woman feels validated, understood, and supported when a man listens to her. When a woman has a problem, talking to her partner about whatever issues there may be is, in itself, a resolution. A woman talks out her problems to relieve stress.

A man often misinterprets a woman’s need to talk as asking for advice. He may immediately start offering advice, perhaps even interrupting, when he believes he has the solution. When a man sees a problem, he wants to fix it. He wants to “stamp out” the problem as quickly as possible and does not see the need to know every single detail.

A woman can get frustrated by this, because she is not getting the help she needs. Many times, a woman is not seeking solutions or advice. When a woman talks out her problems, she merely needs her partner to listen attentively, let her vent, and provide her with positive feedback to show that he is listening, such as nodding or statements like:

“I see what you mean.”
“And then what happened?”
“I don’t blame you for feeling that way.”

These responses nurture her feminine side and relieve her stress.

“I go down an emotional well.” Women may suddenly sink down emotionally when her problems have been piling up or she isn’t feeling emotionally supported or when she feels vulnerable and hurt for whatever reason. She may start expressing how she really feels inside in an almost attacking manner and may start to talk in extremes. Often heard are statements like:

“I do everything!”
“No one listens to me anymore!”
“We never go anywhere!”

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A man can take these statements personally, interpreting these statements as directed toward him. He may be tempted to respond with statements like:

“That is not true!”
“And you think I do nothing!”
“What’s wrong now!”

A man should also never say any of the following statements when his partner is stressed:

“You’re too sensitive!”
“You’re overreacting!”
“Is it that time of the month again?!”

These statements hurt. They minimize her issues, dismiss her emotions, make her feel unimportant, exacerbate the problem, and keep her down in her emotional well.

She isn’t trying to attack the man. Her extreme statements mean she is under a lot of stress, she needs her feminine side nurtured and, in order to do, she needs to release.

What she needs from her partner is to offer help in the form of supportive listening, such as:

“You really do so much for this family.”
“You always work so hard.”
“I really appreciate all that you do.”

These supporting responses are a great way for a man to prove himself as a supportive partner. The more understanding the partner, the faster a woman can climb out of her well.

“Make me number one.” Expectations, needs, desires, and what we provide in our relationships are very different for men and women. We show our love in very different ways.

A woman needs to feel that she is number one on the man’s priority list. Some ways a man can show his partner that she is number one are:

Touch base with her during the day.
Take her out for a nice date, just the two of you.
Come home early from work to spend some time enjoying each other’s company.

When she is provided with these gifts of love, she feels fulfilled. She knows she is important to her man and she knows the man genuinely cares about the relationship.

“It’s the little things that count.” A man and a woman score points with their partners with gifts of love and attention, but each score points very differently. A man scores points according to the size of the gift. Big gift equals many points; small gift equals fewer points. A woman gives one point per gift, regardless of its size. For instance, when a man brings home a dozen roses, it is one point, not 12 points. One dozen roses will score as many points as one rose.

This distinction is important, because a man may think he is scoring many points when in actuality he is only scoring a few. A woman may be giving many little gifts of love and, in her mind, she is racking up the points while he is sitting on his few, though large, gifts. She may feel that she is giving more to the relationship and not getting enough in return. This imbalance may cause a woman to develop resentment and she may stop giving all together. This resentment will kill the passion in the relationship and the couple will grow apart.

A man must start to score points by doing a lot of the little things, for instance:

The Emotional Differences Between Men And Women – Part Two

What Women Wished Men Knew About Them

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