David R. Herz: for Men

First, I thank you. Thanks for making it this far. Thanks for taking on that you can have a great relationship. Thank You for realizing it's in your power. You've probably figured out by now it's a little harder than you once imagined, but you also get that the other side is worth the effort you put in.

I saw this yesterday:

What would it be like if this is how we attacked all the challenges in our lives? What if we celebrated each win along the way like this girl does? This girl isn't saying holy @#$%, I didn't win at the rodeo, but she's probably seen people ride there by now. She gets that the first step is just getting on the horse.

It's the same with us. You want marriage, or long-term love. First you've got to get on the horse, walk up and say hello, lots of times. Maybe adjust your stance, and that's just to get a hello back. And that is enough to celebrate.

The thing is most of us don't celebrate the wins along the way, and that can make the big game look like it's unwinnable. It's not. But this might also happen:

This is life. We will get dumped in the mud. We will look stupid. But if we don't get past that, we'll never be able to actually ride.

We forget relating is a skill. We can learn to listen and talk just like these girls are learning to ride. And the more we do it - add a little bit of training with the right coach - and we can become more than adequate at the task.

And if we learn to listen to the horse, it doesn't look like it takes any effort at all:

And with enough practice, a relationship can look this easy as well.

Your Holiday Challenge

Every day this week, talk to a woman in your life and thank her for something, whether it's your mom just for bringing you to this life, a sister or cousin for the one time she was nice to you, or your once best friend with whom you have lost touch.

And your bonus challenge is to ask them one thing that they like about you that they don't think you appreciate enough about yourself.

And then head over to the facebook group, and let us know how it panned out.