You Snooze, You Lose (more advice from Aesop)

The Tortoise and the Hare

A Hare was one day making fun of a Tortoise for being so slow upon his feet. "Wait a bit," said the Tortoise; "I'll run a race with you, and I'll wager that I win."

"Oh, well," replied the Hare, who was much amused at the idea, "let's try and see"; and it was soon agreed that the fox should set a course for them, and be the judge. When the time came both started off together, but the Hare was soon so far ahead that he thought he might as well have a rest: so down he lay and fell fast asleep. Meanwhile the Tortoise kept plodding on, and in time reached the goal. At last the Hare woke up with a start, and dashed on at his fastest, but only to find that the Tortoise had already won the race.

Slow and steady wins.

*********

Scratch that......to me, the moral of this story is "don't sleep on your competitors." Funny how competition makes people step up, and often times only after it's too late.

So let me explain what hares and tortoises have to do with dating. I had been "talking" to a few guys over the past year or so, but nothing was ever coming of any of the situations, which is fine and good since I was just going with the flow of life and taking things as they came along.... no rush. But it seemed like it was all a matter of convenience as to whether they could get to me and I didn't feel like I was much of a priority.....at least, not as much of a priority status as I feel I need and deserve. Yes, I know, people have lives. I get that quite clearly. But people MAKE time for what's important......as a mother of 2 kids who went to law school and practiced law in a big firm, I know this is true and nobody can tell me otherwise. Anyway, I just got to the point where I started to analyze things and got tired of all the juggling and getting in where I fit in and feeling like I was just chillin' on guys' benches.

I've never been the type to pit people against each other and instigate competition..... that's just not my style because I know personally I probably would be like "Oh really? Good luck with that......I'm out. Peace." because I'm not into jumping through hoops and playing female vs. female games (I think some people are entertained by the battle, like watching dog fighting or something.... go stroke your ego somewhere and with someone else). However, once I started implying/indicating that there was 1 guy in particular that I was spending my time with (combined with the fact that I started going ghost with everyone else), there was a sudden flurry of activity and expressed sentiments that were previously unexpressed. One guy who I wouldn't ever hear from except for the occasional "Yo, whatssup" text (i.e. The Booty Call text) all the sudden started inviting me to lunch and talking like he was actually interested in me as a human being. Another guy who I'd known for awhile and had given my number to and told to call me (and only called once) all the sudden wanted to be disappointed when he heard that someone else was commanding my attention these days. It was just like the hare waking up and realizing that the tortoise got way ahead of him while he was napping. Too. Late.

So, for all the hares out there.....sorry fo ya. You snooze, you lose. If there's a woman you are interested in, don't sit back on your laurels and play stupid hard to get games or try and be ice cold like Andre 3000. And don't let your cockiness or self-perceived swag make you lazy.... you may THINK that she's waiting around for you to make a move, but others are making moves at the same time you're NOT. Chances are if you're interested, someone else is as well. I don't know what y'all are waiting on or holding out for, but don't be surprised when you look up and the race is about to be won.