You were right. It took me a while to swallow. I've spent the better part of two years after being introduced to TRP looking for the type of relationship that made me confident it would work long-term, and which would completely satisfy me. I never had the reaction of complete shock when I first read through it, as I thought some ideas could be valuable to some people, but I quickly dismissed it as PUA. I don't care much for fucking as many women as possible, so I felt it just wasn't for me.

This was in the last year of my relationship with my ex. She was extremely egalitarian about everything, including finance (for the most part) and domestic responsibilities. It all seemed so logical on paper, if you keep everything separate, you both maintain independence and so you could both do what you want, and develop the way you want. But in practice, this was a terrible idea for me. The year we lived together felt more like having a random room-mate that I would occasionally fuck than a girlfriend. We went on a vacation of a few days not too far from here, after which she went on a month-long vacation with a close friend of her to the other side of the world. I'm slightly older and I'm the type to want to nourish and care for my partner. She wasn't, and so I found myself putting effort into a relationship every day, while I wasn't getting anything out of it. Her friends became my friends, but she put very little effort in meeting mine. It effectively stalled my life as I stopped advancing my own interests. I didn't quite realize it then, but I felt something was wrong, and I couldn't shake that feeling. I trusted my gut instincts and broke up with her. The start of my path.

First thing I did was strengthen ties with my own family and friends. They gave me the advice to focus on me, and it helped a lot. Started taking lifting more seriously, continued studying, made money with my own company, I really got back on course. Meanwhile, since it was an amicable split, my ex also told me about her life. She said she was fine, but ate/slept terribly, mostly stopped working out, and was far more stressed. She never once mentioned my contribution to her life, but the evidence was clear. Breaking up meant a vast improvement in my quality of life, and a vast drop in hers. I provided for her, and was better off without her.

Obviously I wanted to avoid this in the future, so I started trying to understand which relationships work better. Traditional relationships had a higher success rate, not just because it was socially undesirable to divorce in the past, but because both members were interdependent on each other. It's basic economics. Why would two people want to cooperate instead of both having the freedom to do it themselves? Because both have a speciality that they're better at than those around them. It's a net benefit for everyone if they focus on what they're good at, and share the fruits of their labour with their peers in return for them sharing their productivity.

The biological reality is that men and women are different, and are specialized for different roles. On average, men are risk-takers, fighters, focused on honing a useful skill to contribute and provide for family. Women are more sensitive, caring, and are more focused on interpersonal relationships and keeping the extended family together. It's important for everyone to be well-rounded enough to take care of themselves if necessary. But having to do everything myself makes me less efficient. Being able to fully dedicate myself to the tasks of providing and leading the household would free me up from wasting much time taking care of the many details throughout the day. Having a partner to take care of those, who I would free from major decisions/responsibilities and financial issues, would be beneficial for us both.

On top of that, humans are inherently driven by self-interest. It's the idea behind the dual-mating strategy for women, and why men generally have at least some desire to fuck every vagina they can find. Sacrifices are generally made with the idea of getting something in return down the line. People want to be with people that make them feel good being together with them. Unless you allow yourself to be domesticated, this doesn't stop when you enter a relationship. You still meet new people. Having an interdependent relationship where both partners take up a specific role means that the relationship goes above and beyond the person you're dating. We'd also be dependent on each other, and the cost of cheating or leaving the arrangement would be catastrophic. It guarantees that even with our morals and convictions to never cheat and be loyal to each other, we have extra motivation to work everything out together rather than running away. In the relationship with my ex, we kept our affairs entirely separate. It shocked me how easy it was for either of us to leave forever. I can only imagine that if we hit a serious rough patch, and at least one of us had a good alternative, it would've ended regardless.

That brings me to today. I almost have my one year anniversary coming up with a girl that suits me very well. She's more traditional, and quickly made it known that she'd prefer to have an older (we differ just over 10 years), more experienced partner to submit to. This played well into my desire to guide and provide within a relationship. In return, she derives real pleasure from serving what she considers a worthy man. She cooks, cleans, does whatever I tell her to do, and fucks me like a pornstar whenever I want. Her submission is a gift she chose to give me. She's smart, naturally sceptical, and doesn't submit to anyone else. But like me, she realised that while she's capable of reaching many goals herself, she's happier with a partner to unload part of the responsibilities on. She'd be happier having a strong man that takes care of her by her side to serve and please.

She had a few short relationships before me, but all extremely unsatisfying to her. Most guys are pussies to her that she couldn't ever truly respect. She laughed about how she could hit her last ex in the face, and he wouldn't do anything to her in return. She was testing me the same way initially, but found a much more satisfying response, and submitted much more willingly just a few weeks in. It was clear to me, as long as I put effort into being the most competent version of myself, she'd do anything to stay with me. Suddenly it all became easy. I would provide, she would serve. I started dedicating myself to improve my look, career, status and income, she started dedicating herself to making me happy, keeping me satisfied, and showering me with love and affection. We've both never been happier and are deeply in love.

I wanted to share this experience because I never took significant time to read through all the literature provided here, or consciously shaped my beliefs to the ones mentioned here. I followed my own path, worked through the reality of what makes long-term relationships work, figured out what would make me happy in life. And somehow, the relationship I ended up with resonates well with the general lessons of what is taught here. I don't think this type of relationship works for absolutely every guy and girl out there, but having people (both me and my girlfriend) independently arrive at a similar conclusion shows there is merit to these ideas. I think especially pragmatic people, and people whose source of confidence isn't based on the image they project to society and are therefore more willing to live life the way they themselves see fit, could benefit from at least considering this. Both sides consent, benefit, and are completely satisfied. Why would anyone not be in favour?