Hi Kind Souls,

Today marks the 8th day without porn. So far, I don’t feel the ache.

Thanks for the heads up, Helcat. If women are unknowingly stopping birth control, that’s really scary. You’re definitely making me take condoms more seriously. I’m big on respect and I’m a passionate person, so I don’t just want consent, I want that enthusiastic consent. I can’t accept anything less.

Anita, thanks for telling me the meaning of Mufasa’s name. I included it because he was a respectful king and a good father to Simba (Lionking movie), and I admire his traits (which I think are similar to mine), He treats every creature in his kingdom, from ants to elephants, with the utmost respect they deserve.

Getting into other things, Modern dating is hard. First of all, I’m not attracted to many people that easily—not that I hate them, but even in dating, I refuse to compromise on a lot of things. Tinder and Bumble give us so many choices, but I think they’re also taking a hit on my already low self-esteem. I’m not that bad, probably a little above average. Even creating a profile requires so much effort, and I only got one match. She was way too young and just… meh vibes.

But here’s the thing: I started online language classes more than a week ago, and the teacher is quite friendly. I like her. We even engage in light flirting sometimes. Today though, during class, I heard a man’s voice in the background—probably her boyfriend or something. It annoyed me so much that I couldn’t focus for the rest of the class.

Now, I’m questioning myself. Why am I getting jealous over something silly like this? She’s just a teacher, and my goal is to learn a language. Why am I making it complicated by developing feelings for her? Am I really that desperate? And if I am, then that’s an issue.