RULES

So after reading enough articles about going on a manbattical, there are only a few pretty obvious and straightforward rules. I'll delve into them and what they mean for me.

1. No dates.

Obviously. But like, what classifies as a date? And how do you know if you’re on one?

Okay I googled it. Wikipedia says:

“Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in humans whereby two people meet socially with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a prospective partner in an intimate relationship or marriage. It is a form of courtship, consisting of social activities done by the couple, either alone or with others.”

So a date is this mutual thing, and not something someone can just spring up on you, for example, a guy friend asks me if I’d like to go for pho, I say “just as a friend” and he goes *wink wink* at me and says “right, NOT a date.” I can then clarify that just because you think it’s a date does not mean that I am "assessing your suitability as a prospective partner", bruh. And yes, that actually happened...
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2. No sex.

This one will be interesting. I want to preface this by saying that my not-having-sex-for-a-year isn’t my way of saying I need to be chaste because I think it will help me be a better person for God. I'm an atheist so... That clears that up.

I decided to go with the "no sex rule" because I really just think sex will entirely negate the point of this whole thing. And trust me, no one is going to be shedding any tears over this rule anyway.
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3. No kissing.

I feel like inebriated me is going to break this one, but we'll see. Kissing doesn't hold a whole lot of weight for me romantically, so even if it happens, I'm not going to punish myself for "ruining the challenge."
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4. No flirting.

I'm not very good at this anyway.
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5. No dating apps.

This rule is SOOOO necessary, you guys. I will NOT be missing them. Okay, maybe a little. But only for the comedy. But I think I will get residual enjoyment from all the miserable dating Instagrams I follow.
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Okay, those are my rules. If there is one that I'm missing that might be important, shoot me a message.