Thanks for your words, @jasmine-3. I have to laugh reading back through my post because I seem to query problems and then almost immediately or indirectly answer them myself. I think I know everything is progressing fine, it’s just sometimes I get caught up in waves of overanalysis that tend to cripple. My main contention, if I can summarise my entire post with some measure of concision, is that I am totally OK with going slow and developing something with her but as a guy and, probably more importantly, as an overly emotive human, I need fairly regular affirmation or validation from the people I recognise as significant in my life. Obviously best friends can go a few weeks without any contact and nothing will have changed. With ‘new’ women, I guess I feel suffocated by a lack of attention, or at least the level of attention that I deem appropriate. If an introvert only needs 1/10 attention every day and an extrovert needs 10/10, the rank is numerically arbitrary given that we each have our own interpretation of what constitutes different needs. Her 8/10 might, in relativity, be my 2/10 and so I think I need to stop trying to expect her to register my interpretation but perhaps become more self-aware that people are intrinsically different.

Irrespective of all of this, I am having fun getting to know her but obviously feel if I’m having good fun seeing her every fortnight then I’d be having great fun if it were weekly or AMAZING RIDICULOUS FUN if it were daily. My personality seems to require stacking upon stacking of good things rather than accepting them individually and savouring them without the need to require more and more. It’s naturally human for me to want to progress things and want more out of our friendship the more days that go by but, as you say, I think patience should be a priority. The fact that she barely has time for guys drooling over her, has only had one serious relationship, has had a really bad incident(s) with trust, is more of a tom-boy, is extremely mature for her age, and on top of all these is an introvert, then I really shouldn’t be second-guessing that taking things a little slower than I’m used to is completely fine. As I said, for now I just can’t break from the idea that it’ll just one day end up snuffing out because it hasn’t progressed. For her, that’s not a problem. For me, however, it is. I’m very critical of women and I attribute that supremely to the typically few serious relationships I’ve had. Having said this, those few women I have loved incredibly. I barely give my heart out to people but when I do it’s 100% or nothing. I don’t think she can ever be like that and it’s not anything to do with me, it’s just her chemistry.

Anyway, I appreciate your words. Especially those to do with learning and living. It’s so true! Learning and experiencing different people is really interesting and worthwhile in the greater scheme, love or not.