Why Is He Suddenly Ignoring Me

Women's Dating

Why is He Suddenly Ignoring Me?

Sharyn Atkinson

Written by: Sharyn Atkinson

Sharyn Atkinson

Sharyn Atkinson has been single for 12 years — and no, she hasn’t been living under a rock and refusing to meet eligible bachelors in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia. She’s just not interested in most of them, and the ones she is interested in still have their good and bad moments.

Edited by: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of journalism experience to ensure DatingAdvice articles have been edited for overall clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Gwinnett Daily News, and The Gainesville Sun covering lifestyle topics.

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I have been on the single scene for 12 years and have met my fair share of men I am not interested in. I am often asked for advice from women who find themselves suddenly single.

I think the most common question I get asked today is: Why is the guy I’m seeing ignoring me all of sudden?

I like to call this playing dead

I am just as mystified as everyone else when men do this. Surely if they are not interested, they would just say so. It does not seem like a difficult thing to do. But then again, maybe I have unrealistic expectations.

Either way, I researched playing dead to help understand this annoying behavior. One reason for animals to play dead is because they want to avoid unwanted attention.

I hate to say it, but that is the brutal reality of the situation. If he is not calling me, he does not want any attention from me.

However, I guarantee you he wants a lot of attention from a different girl. This is a true story.

I was recently given some ridiculous advice about men

The advice was I need to smell like vanilla because men like that.

I highly doubt smelling like a sponge cake will solve any playing dead problems I might experience in the future. Besides, I like to think men are interested in me for better reasons than whether I smell like custard or not.

I hate these situations. They are terrible. The worst thing I could do is attempt to turn things around.

The more I try, the worse I end up feeling because I prolong the inevitable. I know in the pit of my stomach he is ignoring me, regardless of how many times I try to tell myself he is just busy.

“I’m not about to read up on guerrilla warfare wooing

tactics to convince a guy I’m what he wants.”

It is far from a great feeling.

It does not hurt because I actually liked him but because my ego took a little blow.

I am prepared to leave the vanilla essence on the supermarket shelf rather than sprinkle it on to woo someone. I am equally prepared to delete his number before my ego is completely shattered.

I do not imagine my vanilla-scented acquaintance would react the same way. She may start to wonder what other techniques she can incorporate into her routine to make him stick around.

I am not about to read up on guerrilla warfare wooing tactics in an attempt to convince a guy I am what he wants. Why would I make such a huge effort to keep someone around who has only made me miserable?

I chose to walk away. I prefer that to smelling like a cheesecake any day.

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