One of the biggest flaws I had in the past (ironically I was more successful dating like this - it's easy to churn through people while pursuing skin deep relationships) was never being very good at truly looking at the other person, truly getting to know them. I was perfectly "nice" to every lady I was ever with, compliment them to high heaven, listen to what they say, go where they want. But I was never truly intimate, considerate, sympathetic, or empathetic, or at least nowhere near enough. It's really easy to flatter somebody; it isn't easy to treat them as important to you as you are to yourself.

While it would have been very nice to get together more permanently with somebody much earlier in my life, and maybe I still would have found growth (through something like becoming a father), I hope that if any of that still happens for me I will be approaching the situation with a much bigger heart in the future.