Swallowing the pill is never something you do just once. There's many different pills of many different flavors. They might all be red, but they all contain different information.

Some are easier to swallow than others, however. Some take a few tries. But every once in a while, there comes a pill you need only swallow just one time. For those who have experienced a woman's love and affection wither away at the sight of your suffering, that pill hurt all the way down. But you only had to take it once.

Men are Powerful

As many of us know, women don't love men the way men love women. It's not a bad thing. They have a biological imperative pushing them towards that ultimate goal. There's nothing wrong with that, but you need to be aware of it. Referring quickly to the set of rules many should already have internalized;

Iron Rule of Tomassi #6
"Women are utterly incapable of loving a man in the way that a man expects to be loved."

Ideally, we'd like to believe that the women we let get close to us would be as invested in our emotional well-being as we were with theirs. And to a very certain degree, they are. But there is one major difference. Where as our desire to care for a woman emotionally usually comes out of an innate desire to protect, secure and comfort, their desire to see us emotionally strong stems from the ultimate goal of making sure we remain capable enough to keep providing the protection, support and comfort that they seek. A man's support is quite often altruistic, where as a woman's desire to support is inherently selfish.

This is usually the spot where most readers new to TRP are lost, and refuse to accept that fact that when a woman says she loves you, what she's really saying is "at this current point in time, I love you because you're checking off my emotional and physical wishlist, but the second that stops, I won't feel the same way".

Returning to my original point, the hardest pill for a man to swallow was the one he took when he opened up to his LTR, either as a sign of vulnerability or in an attempt to garner emotional comfort or support during a time of desperation, and had his efforts and feelings subliminally spat back into his face. I'll try to paint a picture as best as I can;

"You live behind a big wall. This wall keeps you safe. It's tall, made of stone and well built. It keeps out the invaders and all beings that would seek to do you harm, either physically or mentally. Behind this wall, you feel safe. You know it can't be breached. Until one day, someone shows you one small, insignificant area of that massive stone aegis that is deteriorating. He then explains that should anything trying to get through the wall find out about this weakness, despite its small size and apparent insignificance, they would be able to break it down. And just like that, your illusion of safety is shattered. The wall looks strong, but you know it has a weakness. Could the wall stand forever without anyone gaining the knowledge of how to get through it? Maybe. But are you willing to gamble your life on it? Mostly likely, you aren't. Since you don't possess the knowledge to fix it (honestly, you can't even comprehend the kind of stress and pressure this wall must have to manage in the first place), you have two options. Live in constant fear and concern that one day, your once proud protector will crumble and fall, or find a new, stronger wall in a new place that doesn't have the same weaknesses your old wall had. Since safety and comfort is your number one concern, the choice is obvious".

Men are naturally powerful. They are the guardians of women and have been for thousands and thousands of years. In that time, women have learned to gravitate towards the beacons of strength that are the Alpha male. Yes, he provides the best opportunity for breeding, but she'll spend the entirety of her time with him trying to convince the Alpha to commit, thereby securing what she believes to be a new, impenetrable "wall". One which she can feel safe existing behind.

God Doesn't Bleed

You're an Alpha. You lift, your frame is solid and your game is good. You find a decent girl who's worth a damn and she becomes your LTR. Everything is going great. She fucks you like a pornstar, she cooks and cleans and takes care of you because you're scratching all her biological itches. You stand tall and proud. Nothing gets you down, because there isn't a problem on this blue Earth that you can't handle. In her eyes, you're a stone wall. A deep-rooted Oak. An untouchable God.

Then, one day at work, you get injured. You've damaged the tendons in your feet badly, and walking has become excruciatingly painful, if even possible at times. The healing process will be long, and the chances for re-injury are very high. Eventually, your mood begins to sway. You can't do a lot of the things you used to love doing and you start feeling depressed. You can't back-squat anymore. Sometimes you can't even make it to the gym. Emotionally, you're a wreck. You don't feel like a man anymore, and all you want is someone to understand and to make you feel comfortable, even if just for a minute. So you turn to your LTR. Surely, after all you've done for her, she'll happily pick you up when you've fallen down. You open up to her, maybe you cried in frustration, or maybe you simply said "this is too much for me to handle right now".

And just like that, with one simple display of weakness, you've shattered her illusion of safety around you. Apparently, you CAN be breached. There's a part of you that has deteriorated. It won't happen right away, but the process has already begun. She is losing interest in you, because there's now no 100% guarantee that this newfound "weakness" you have won't one day cause the entire wall to collapse.

As I'm sure you figured out, since this example of an injury is oddly specific, that was what happened to me. My "Soulmate™" lost all interest in me during my greatest time of need. She didn't dump me. I dumped her after I'd reached my breaking point. But it was simply a matter of time. I only beat her to the punch. Was I angry at the time? Of course. I thought the love and support I provided for her would be reciprocated, since I never asked for it other than just this one time. I was her God, and she watched me ask for help as I laid on the floor, bleeding in front of her. So she ceased to believe in me.

I don't blame her. Not anymore. A big part of TRP is about accepting women for what they are, without hating them for it. I don't hate her for losing interest in me anymore than I'd hate a lion who attacked me for walking into its den. Both creatures were just doing what came to them naturally. Her biological imperative was to find a man who could protect her against the world and keep her safe from harm. How could I do that if I couldn't even protect myself from it? There's a difference between a woman seeing you injured and a woman seeing you broken, though. If you're stressed, but she knows you'll get through it, that's confirmation that although you both acknowledge the difficulty of the situation, it's a weight you can manage. If you have a mental breakdown and go off the deep end though, now you're broken. Even the strongest oak tree might bend and flex in the wind, but seeing the storm actually topple it over proves it wasn't as deep-rooted as initially perceived.

Don't show her true vulnerability. Never let her see you broken. Bend and sway in the wind all you want. Ideally, the less, the better. But don't crumble. Don't fall over. Don't bleed. Be strong, resilient and adaptable. Safety is an illusion, and if you shatter that illusion, you lose all credibility in her eyes.

That right there was the hardest fucking pill I ever had to swallow.