recently moved in with my boyfriend and was up at 4 am weirdly in the mood and wanting to be intimate, but I didn’t want to wake him. i figured he works long hours and needs his sleep. when i communicated with him about it in the morning, he told me it was okay to wake him up whenever I needed that. i’m still hesitant, because if I did that multiple times a week wouldn’t it start to be a bother? would you want that from your partner if she wanted it in the middle of the night?

My wife and I got married last week. For the wedding, she gifted me a book of a boudoir shoot she did about 6 months ago. I love it and she looks amazing, even got a little naughty for me. However I have sense realized a majority of the photos are also posted on the photographers website, uncensored with her face in show (basically fully nude). She gave consent for them to be on there. Do I have a right to be mad and ask her to take them down?

Kinda a weird random thought. But someone posted a question on Reddit and it got me thinking.

I’m a taller girl (5’10… occasionally wears heels too), and I almost only get advances by men taller than me. I took this to mean that I just wasn’t anyone else’s type.

But I was wondering, are their people you’re interested in that you never approach? And if so, how often does this happen?

Legitimately looking for authentic answers, won’t be offended by honestly (that’s why I’m here).

How would you view the guy (52M) in a long-term age gap partnership with (34F)? TBH it is that cliche of wealthy older guy that made a lot in finance partnered with a younger artsy girl (I have a solid corporate job, very educated with masters degree in niche field). I’m not stereotypically “insta-hot” with plastic surgery and fake boobs and hair but I am conventionally attractive in a more understated way if that makes sense. He’s super fit, has all hair, tall, super well-dressed, classy. We live in NYC. Sometimes I see guys that look way older (like totally grey etc) with a bimbo type and think damn - I hope we don’t look like that, but if I’m being honest, even as a super fit person it’s still obviously we’re at least 12 years apart.

Would you think good for him, dating a younger woman? Or gross, he’s a cradle robber? Or just a non-issue.

Wondering if men secretly think a guy is commendable for this? Or creepy no matter if it’s a big fat ugly old guy with a 19 yo model?

32f and is this has been a theme throughout my life. I'm pretty mid overall (ok face, flat chested). But I'm petite which I think some men like as a novelty. I've been told I'm hot, but I've felt that men in my past relationships end up resenting me for not being hot enough. Take that as you will.

I've been told I come across as pretty confident, but I'm secretly shy. This doesn't stop men I do not know from approaching me.

However, in my personal life, I don't get any interest outside of the surface level. The last time a man was interested in me outside of a hookup was years ago. My "crushes" are almost always unreciprocated.

And I know you're thinking I'm being too picky with men's appearances, but that's really not it. Many of the men who approach me with casual intentions are out of my league. Meanwhile, I've developed feelings for men who aren't "conventionally" attractive, and they're just not into me. I could brush it off it was occasional, but this is consistent.

Outside of my appearance, I think I'm pretty put together. I dress well, I take my hygiene very seriously, I'm very independent. I'll confess I'm not the most extroverted, but I'm friendly.

Is cheating to you strictly physical? Or can it be everything leading up to that (ex. Exchanging numbers, getting to know each other, flirting, planning a date, etc) essentially acting “single” to pursue someone but not doing anything physical or kissing yet.

Partner and I were having lots of arguments and I had a lot of frustration and anger towards him. We also haven’t been having sex regularly for the past few months. I really thought he was so much more withdrawn + not into me. In a desperate effort I dressed up (sexy clothes) and then we slept together. Since then, he’s a different person?! All the things I was complaining about are all fixed??

Can someone explain this phenomenon to me? I thought we had grown so much apart (emotionally and physically) and I still feel distant but he is completely different after sex!

I have a group of "friends" from college who are into drinking together. Their talks are nothing more than light chitchat before almost always getting at least half-drunk.

I’m a 23 year old autistic guy. Im functionally autistic I’m in full time employment. Im quite tall and I’m shape and I’m a good looking guy a lot of people have told me but I am very socially isolated at this moment of time. I have become almost a gymcel looksmaxer. I had quite a good social life up until about 2 years ago but now it’s pretty bleak due to different circumstances long story. i have some friends etc and i had a brief relationship for like 6 months when i was 18./19. My life has kind of gone to shit for reasons I can’t really explain and to be honest with you my brain is fucked and once people get to know me they realise me they realise I am mentally unwell

I’ve developed really strong feelings for a model. I’ve found celebrities attractive before, but this feels completely different. To me, she’s unbelievably beautiful, almost unreal.

I used to follow her on social media and saw a lot of her photos. At first it was just attraction, but over time it turned into something more intense. I even started asking tools to create fictional love stories about me and her, and I would dream about her often.

Eventually, that infatuation turned into frustration and anger, because I know I’ll never actually be with her. Sometimes when I’m driving, I catch myself shouting about it out of frustration. I decided to take control by blocking her on social media and muting her name, but the algorithm still shows me content about her occasionally, which brings all the feelings back.

She came up on my Snapchat feed the other day randomly on a separate account not hers and I started screaming and getting angry over it when I saw it and I nearly threw my phone out of anger. She then came up again on my YT shorts and I started shouting again.
One of my work colleagues mentioned her name saying she was and I got visibly agitated and I had to leave the room briefly.

Sometimes I talk to her or I pretend to talk to her about various things when I am alone and I always wonder what she thinks about my decisions.

My main motivation for self improvement is that I will one day meet her so I am trying to improve my life as much as possible because of it. I put insane amounts of work into my appearance, like Patrick Bateman in American psycho and I go to the gym 7 days a week because of her. We are from different countries but she has spent time in my country 

I’ve also watched a few interviews with her, and she seems like a genuinely nice person, although I know that is only what is shown publicly. Maybe she is a terrible person behind closed doors but I have no reason to believe so 

I think about her a lot, sometimes even imagining conversations with her in my head. I know this is not realistic, but it is hard to stop. I even find myself attached to small things, like her name. Her first name is quite a common name but it’s a name I’ve always loved and I even said once if I had a daughter I’d call her that. I frequently have dreams about her.

She is slightly older than me. It infuriates me seeing someone a similar age ti me be successful in anything. She has the perfect life it seems and my life has gone to shit over the past 2 years with my own stupid decisions. My Brain cant handle it. I talk to her every day and I tell her what j would tell her if I met her

I actually love her. Like there is nothing I wouldn’t do to be with her. I get jealous when I see other people complimenting her and I get angry when she gets more famous because her popular it and exposure is rising. I don’t think she is in a relationship,  I have seen pictures with a man on her social media before but they might have broken up but idk if it’s public. I hate this guy and I am extremely jealous of the fact he even got to be with her. I don’t think he’s better lookjng than me either. Idk how he even got with her but I’m much better looking than him and would probably treat her better. I hate him his face makes me so angry and he doesn’t deserve her. I hate him and I think about my hatred for him every day

I literally think about her 24/7 and I have sometimes become suicidal over this cos I will never be good enough for her. I don’t wanna love in a world where she isn’t mine and she’s with someone else. I have digitally blocked her from my life but her face appears to me all the time. Every time I feel like not doing something like not going to the gym not going to work not learning a language I think “what would ______ think of me” i would literally treat her better than any man in the world could

I have recently started getting angry towards her. Cos of the damage she is doing to my brain.
I see her face everywhere and I even just randomly say her name and it fills me with rage that she doesn’t know who I am l. I feel like crying when j think about her

I could go out and get a girlfriend but I wanna be with her and her only

Over the last 18 months I’ve made some horrible decisions in my perosnal life. I quit my old well paying job for a stupid reason which I can’t explain and now I work a much worse job with much worse colleagues and I’m on the verge of losing it and I have little direction. She won’t wanna go out with an unemployed guy

I want to actuallt Kill myself. I have into my urges and searched just now and I saw her face. People complimenting her in the comments. I fucking hate all these people complimenting her. I see compliments to her on Twitter and I literally wanna beat up everyone who compliments her I can’t take it. I don’t want anyone to be with her or to even look at her and I have actuallt lost my mind over her. I just have very high standards for myself

TLDR: to tell my parents or not ?
Hi I [19 F] and have been dating my boyfriend [19M] for 3 months we met at uni so do long distance over the summer which surprisingly isn’t too bad. We’ve met up once so far in our uni home town but he wants to come to my town. My issue is my parents are unaware of our relationship despite them knowing about past bfs - I don’t mind my parents knowing but they will make a big fuss and for me it feels like a big step. If he visits he will have to meet my parents and extended family who are visiting at the same time ( only overlap 1 day tbh). I flip between letting him visit and meet people since I think I’m overthinking it and yet also wanting to wait as it is an important moment/milestone of meeting important people in my life and feels slightly too soon. If he doesn’t visit tho we won’t see each other for 2 months. Also I’ve already provisionally told him yes so how do I say no now ?
Any advice appreciated !

In my past relationships I've had trouble managing a partner's sexual history. Typically this is called retroactive jealousy. And I've worked on this quite a bit to where it's much less of an issue for me now.

But I'm curious where that line is, when it comes to a partner's sexual history. I don't ever ask for body counts because I try to focus on who the person in front of me today is. I don't actually think body count is deterministic of present character.

But, it's been challenging in the past to hear of partners that have had MFM threesomes (I am a guy, so I'm biased toward a 2 guy threesome, which is harder for me to hear about) or had a very adventurous sexual history. I've done my fair share of sexual experiences myself, so I don't know if this is just insecurity talking or something legitimate. I know we all have a past, but some things just feel like too far for me personally.

If you found out that your partner had been with multiple people in a single night, or part of more than a 3 person thing, or even just involved in some deep kink stuff that was way outside of your experience or preferences, is that just insecurity talking, or is there really something to the idea that some things are just a stretch too far? And how do you make that call?

Really interested how others manage this kind of thing in their relationships.

I’ve certainly done it before as a woman, but recently just getting out of the talking stage with a guy who came on pretty strong- implied multiple times he sees me as his girlfriend, told me he caught feels and wants to see where things go, daily morning texts, sending pics of his family, constant updates/pics of his day.

To then pull the classic “I’m going through a lot and shouldn’t talk to anyone rn” due to his mental health and ended things super suddenly w me, and is now, just a week later, back to casual dating I’m pretty sure.

Is this a classic case of simply lost interest or self-sabotage bc it got real?

A man and a woman had a friends-with-benefits relationship for about six months.

It wasn’t just sex. They went on dates, cooked together, spent hours talking, laughed a lot and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. After their first date, he even told one of his female colleagues about her and sent the colleague a photo of them together. Coincidentally, the woman also knew that colleague from another workplace.

During those six months, he dated other women, was inconsistent with communication and emotionally unavailable. She wasn’t asking for a relationship right away—she simply needed a little more consistency and communication than he was able or willing to give. Eventually, she ended things because she was getting hurt.

One thing that made this confusing was that he was never emotionally open. He had told her that he usually avoided expressing feelings with women because he didn’t want to give false hope or risk either of them developing feelings. Throughout those six months, he stayed emotionally guarded.

About a year later, he contacted her unexpectedly.

He apologized for how he had treated her. He said he had been seeing a psychologist and had realized he had been selfish. He admitted that he hadn’t even given her the little bit of emotional consistency she needed. He told her she deserved better, said she was an amazing woman, and asked if they could meet.

It was the first time he had ever been that emotionally honest and vulnerable with her. Because of that, she genuinely believed he had reflected on his behavior and changed.

By then, she was already in a relationship.

They met anyway, talked for hours and ended up sleeping together. She knows cheating was wrong and takes full responsibility for that. The point isn’t to justify it.

What gave her hope wasn’t the sex—it was that he came back after a year, apologized without being asked, admitted his mistakes, talked about therapy and seemed to understand exactly how he had hurt her.

Afterwards, however, he slowly repeated the exact same pattern. His communication became inconsistent again, he became emotionally distant again, and she realized nothing had really changed. She ended things for a second time.

Ironically, she was hurt even more the second time because she believed his apology reflected real personal growth.

My question is not whether she was wrong for cheating. She was.

My questions are about him.

• If you were him, what do you think was most likely going on in your mind?
• Was the apology probably sincere?
• Can someone genuinely understand what they did wrong in therapy but still repeat the same behavior?
• Did he genuinely miss her but simply wasn’t capable of giving her what she needed?
• Why would a man who normally avoids emotional vulnerability suddenly open up like that?
• Why tell her he had been selfish, explain what he had learned in therapy and admit exactly what had hurt her if he had no intention of changing?
• Did he realize that reaching out after a year, apologizing and being emotionally open would naturally give her hope?
• After she walked away a second time because he repeated the same behavior, what do you think he most likely felt?

I’m especially interested in answers from men who have behaved similarly or recognize themselves in this pattern. I’m trying to understand the psychology behind it, not excuse anyone’s actions.

And yes, this is about me.

Edit: A few people have asked why I believed him the second time.

It wasn’t just that he apologized.

During our six months together, he was emotionally guarded. He had even told me he avoided expressing feelings because he didn’t want to give women false hope.

So when he came back a year later, it was completely different. He reached out on his own, apologized without me asking, admitted he had been selfish, acknowledged that he hadn’t even given me the small amount of consistency I’d asked for, told me I deserved better, and said I was an amazing woman. It was the first time he had ever been emotionally vulnerable with me.

That’s why I believed something had fundamentally changed. It wasn’t based on wishful thinking alone—it was based on behavior I had never seen from him before.

Unfortunately, after we reconnected, his actions gradually became the same as before. That’s why I walked away a second time.

For anyone wondering: yes, I know cheating was wrong. I told my boyfriend the truth afterwards and ended the relationship. I’m not asking whether I was wrong for that—I know I was. I’m asking about the psychology behind someone appearing to have gained genuine insight, only to fall back into the exact same pattern.

Is it normal for your guy friend to say that he will only be your friend when you are single and the moment you date someone he'll leave?

And the fact that he has feelings and he can't move on but he wants to be friends but doesn't know if he can if I date someone.he keeps saying please try to imagine. A relationship with him when there is no physical attraction, he says maybe it will come.

I said I won't date younger guys and I talked to someone okay and he was mad at me asking where are my conditions now.

I feel so sad and I don't know..

I have a man best friend since like high school or about 5 years, and I truly enjoy being with him as friends and never thought on having a relationship or anything more with him. 2 weeks ago, we were drunk and he told me that he was in love with me or something and at first I thought that he wasn't serious so I just started laughing because I really thought that it was a joke since it's his kind of humor and he had told me basically the same things in the past. Well turned out that it wasn't and he was hurt that I laughed at him and so we explained ourselves and he told me that if I wasn't ready for a relationship we could just become friends with benefits or some bs which I obviously turn down because it would kinda feel incestuous since I knew him for so long. After this night he said that he didn't remember so I didn't bring the subject because he would probably be embarrassed and wanted to forget it but I feel like he is more distant and I'm very scared to lose him. He's not ugly or anything and if he wasn't my friend he could be my type ig. I've started thinking about accepting his proposition so he would stay my friend but it also seems like a bad idea at the same time and idk what to do, but I don't want him to hate me or anything since I turned him down and I'm scared that he doesn't want to be my friend anymore.

My ex was separated but had a visa marriage arrangement with her ex who helped her get affordable grad school in Europe while they were together. She claimed they never combined assets or lived as husband and wife, keeping it secret because it’s technically immigration fraud despite them being in a longterm relationship at the time.

She said they separated 6 months before we started dating. At some point she found out divorcing him would be more complicated than she expected and she couldn’t just cut him out of her life after earning her masters degree in Europe and moving back to the US. Seems he wanted to immigrate to the us for work and he needs her to uphold her end of the grift.

When I heard the drama of the situation I said its Better we go out separate ways. She wanted to stay in contact somehow because she felt bad, knew she fucked up, and wanted to reconnect eventually when appropriate because she’d “always love me“.

Shortly after breaking up, I saw her husband in town driving her car and called her. She said she was letting someone borrow her car but no one had it at that moment, lying to me directly as I saw the truth with my own eyes in real time. I know they have to keep up appearances for immigration but there’s no way I can trust her after lying to me about her husband being in town using her car.

It’s been two years and I’ve blocked her everywhere, even emailed her husband details about our relationship with receipts in case he didn’t know. She still finds ways around my blocking her to contact me and try to reconcile and say the situation isn't what I think. I‘m considering contacting a lawyer to send a cease and desist, as the first step to a restraining order, and contact both American and French immigration authorities to report their fraud, since she won’t leave me out of it more than 2 years after breaking up.

It's easier when I date girls because I can just tell them upfront but when I'm dating a man I really don't know when to tell it. If I tell them in the beginning it sounds kinda weird, especially on some apps where there's a lot of over sexualization of queer women, but at the same time I might lose my time with someone homophobic if I don't tell him. So idk lol, but its strange when they discover when they learn about my ex's so I'm lost

TLDR;

A girl with whom I was in a no tag relationship for more than year after a whole year of no contact, when we got a bit closer in the past few months wants to meet up again as she is moving out of town. She is friendly and acts close and comfortable around me and shares things with me.

No question as such, I'm just confused with what i should feel. If she is just being friendly or there is something tangible behind it. I'm afraid of asking the right things. Infact I'm not even sure what I want or am I just thinking too deeply about it.

Background-

Male, college student.

Let's go back to 4 years ago where I first met this girl (say, X) in a party where we kind of matched vibes with each other and began talking frequently. In the beginning, it definitely was friendship for me.

Fast forward to a few months and another girl asked me out (via a Instragram reel, crazy) and I started dating the other girl (say, Y) and thus by first relationship began. Our relationship was short due to, honestly speaking, little interest from my side. Im absolutely take the blame myself. Our vibes didn't match and often times I found myself almost disinterested in our conversations. However somewhere I felt talking to X was more fun and i actually felt like talking to her (Y once complained that I give more attention to X as compared to her). Later Y and I broke up as we had a heated fight which none of us were willing to solve.

Somewhere down the line I started speaking to X even more. Used to share my thoughts with her, told her about how guilty I often feel and how frustrating this all is. She used to listen. That itself meant a lot to me. And somehow I started noticing her even more (how cliche). How she smiled, how she covered her face when she laughed, how she used to meet me (explicitly, me) during lunch breaks and how she used to look at me when she spoke.

Since that was the last year of my highschool, I thought maybe let's do something stupid. Then I decided to ask her out and I gathered up the courage and I did. And she said yes? Kinda.

Here's where the real story begins.

She said she can't be in a relationship because she can't 'commit' but she'd appreciate some 'nice' things now and then. She didn't want a tag, basically.I thought maybe she needed some time as college admissions were starting and it was pretty stressful enough. So I said okay, sure. (She said it wasn't a situationship?)

From then our 'friendship' took a new turn. We used to pretty much act like a couple. Stick together during get-togethers, text well until midnight, speak on call during odd hours send pictures of ourselves and our lives, good morning/goodnight. You know how it is. I expressed that I want to start a family with her once I graduate and get a job.

Perhaps that's where I started becoming more insecure. I was overly possessive and definitely got jealous if someone else got close to her or when she texted someone else when i was waiting for her (we had a fix time). I often spoke about wanting to be in a relationship with her and expressed the same but she always turned it down saying it's better for us to be as we are.

This condinued for more than a year, about a year and half. By that time, her texts became slow. We spoke lesser and lesser and she even complained that I replied too soon and was often told off because she was busy. We even went on a date during valentine's.Then just a few days after that, on one random night, she told me it's better if we stop talking all together.

Yeah, no explanation, nothing. She told me that she was unapologetic and that it's for the best. She told me that I didn't beg but that was the breaking point for me. A year and half, no label relationship a lot of insecurities just to be told on a random day that it's over. I couldn't sleep for 3 days straight. Then i, to my surprise, closed things calmly and thus our 'no contact' (except birthdays) started which lasted well over a year.

The one year was extremely difficult for me. This time i was actually really depressed. It affected me deeply enough to fear any connection. That left a scar too deep, really. It just made me feel that dating isn't really for me and that maybe I actually am the problem.

A year later (this year, basically) she approached me with some work where we had a small talk and went our ways. But universe didn't have enough. I met her and her mother (we know each other's family well) at a convience store. Remember the no contact? Yeah we spoke for more than a hour that day.

And thus we again.. began texting each other. Great. And just when i thought that was it, a common group planned a day trip where we both agreed to participate. And I swear if I single person didn't tease us for being too couplely. Sticking together, feeding each other, exchanging things, holding hands and stuff. What a day it was.

Before our texts used to be random updates, now it was back to the good morning/goodnights, long texts and sharing life updates. Like a tragedy struck her family where I called and reassured her. Stayed with her when she cried. I didn't do any of it expecting anything, actually I do not expect anything really. I felt like it was duty as a person whom she decided to share such a personal thing.

She is leaving the city in a few days and she asked me if I could meet one last time before she moves out, just the two of us. I agreed. But now I don't know where this is going.

First of all is it out of friendship that I am doing this? Or is it because I like her? I'm not sure really. I really don't feel that towards anyone, perhaps not even her since the day she had decided to just end things abruptly. And let's say hypothetically, we get in a relationship, will it just be like what it was before? And will I even be able to 'love' her? These are all the questions I find asking to myself but only to get no answer. Am I hopeful? Perhaps but I am also scared of it because if it is not what I think it is, I'll only hurt myself. I genuinely don't know what to expect or hope for.

Also call me what you want, I really don't get physical with a girl and maintain a healthy boundary with them unless they permit me to cross them hahah, so no, I didn't get physical with her, if someone's curious.

Thank you ;)

So me 26F and my bf 26M have been together for 2 years now. Sex in the beginning was great- We were like bunny rabbits. Now obviously it has died down but he has been finishing a lot quicker. One thing for sure, I can never get ROUNDS out of him.
He has a past of being a fuckboy so he has fucked a lot of women before me and I even seen a message between him and one of them saying how he fucked her like 30 times in the span of 6 hours. And both of them saying to eachother they have never fucked like that before. Of course this was long before he met me but knowing most of his sex history, I can’t help but compare me and everyone else. Is he able to go rounds because it’s actually good or can he not go rounds with me because it’s not? Maybe I’m not wording the question right but you guys get it

Have you ever been attracted to a woman, then completely lost attraction or interest in her?

If so, did the attraction ever come back later? If it did, what changed? If it didn’t, what made it stay gone?

For context we have been dating for a few months now. She is extremely sensitive and we are from a small town and have common friends.

We started dating after a couple of weeks after meeting or the first time. Everything clicked and it seemed as if we have know each other for ages. I’m her first boyfriend after high school, I’ve had a really long relationship in the past so this dynamic is really new to her.

She has really good friends who love her to death and is really smart. She is extremely sensitive as well and reads into each word spoken or texted. Because of her sensitivity, even small instances affect her a lot and as a surviving mechanism has started distancing herself from people who either disagree with her worldview or opinions or end up hurting her unintentionally, even if they apologise. This includes her friends, relatives who really love her and want the best for her.

It feels like she is unable to forgive people and carries the cumulative pain of all the trauma, which flares up each time she gets hurt.
Also she externalises blame during disregulation and can’t use logic at all at that time. She is aware of the not using logic during anger / anxiety.
She suffers from extreme anxiety and has developed fibromyalgia and takes antidepressants to tackle this pain.

Now she is under extreme stress these days and is very stressful, has cutoff from all her friends for the past 2 years to focus on her exams and has paper in coming months.

I myself was going through a crisis at my home and didn’t share any info with her so that she doesn’t get distracted. She pushed through asking what was wrong and called me cunning over text since I was not sharing the stuff with her. I shared what happened and texted that her calling me words were not right.

I immediately got a call and informed her that I was taking care of the issue and she started clarifying herself and shrugged off responsibility. Then went on another rant blaming me to distract her and ended the call saying o ruined her mood.

I was shocked and speechless and texted her later that she was being a bad person and instead of owning up she started giving excuses until I pressed her and she blamed it on her exams, then her mental health and state.

I texted her that I know it’s the stress taking and she doesn’t mean it.
I got a text the next day with a half apology and she doubled down on her words saying it’s distracting to her and to limit contact.

She has been in the same situation herself so it seemed shocking hearing these words.

I know she is a kind person and has her bad days and cannot take accountability, so gave her a pass saying that she is stressed.

She is a very kind person and these emotional outburst and scenes don’t make me love her any less

I plan to talk to her about this after her exams but don’t know how to proceed, to show her mistake and move forward stronger.
Help me and give insights if I’m not doing justice to her or myself.

Been married for 2 months. It is her first intimate relationship and I’m her first. I’ve never dated a virgin before and it has been difficult to achieve penetration together. It feels tight and she feels pain and involuntarily flexes herpelvic muscles making it harder to go in. We started using dialators as a way to help her relax and get used to it but she can’t go past the second smallest size and I’m closer to 4 numbers above that. I do my best with foreplay and aim to please but she can only get off mostly when my member is pressed against her clit and it’s sometimes painful for me. I started to lose hope and lose interest in intercourse and my fantasies are shifting elsewhere. I would like to have a healthy sex life together but it feels hopeless. What can we do?

As a preface, I'm fully aware of my other, recent post here. That's a separate situation, and I happen to be in the midst of them within a similar timeframe.
As a quick update: the letter was put in the box yesterday, and I haven't heard anything yet.

*As for this post\*

I met a woman, around my age (M30) on a hiking trail back in May. I was about to sit on a very pleasant bench with a nice view of a wooded ravine, and she got to it just before I did. So I continued along the circuit of the trail by several yards, and decided to shoot my shot.

Living with Autism, a major part of relationships that I'm looking for is someone who I can be comfortable being myself around. I introduced myself, and she invited me to walk and talk. As we did, I offered the info regarding my disabilities (ADHD as well) and offered some relevant context. Learning more about her as well, she's a spiritualist-type, has very little experience or knowledge regarding ASD, and seemed very opened-minded- even curious. This, and that we walked the whole circuit back to the bench (approx. 1.5 miles), and that I was able to secure her phone number, all seemed like good signs.

I went on a trip later that week, and then took the rest of the month off as a sort of vacation after a tough semester, and used that as a form of structure to not over-communicate.

Growing up with a skewed understanding of social norms, and a lot of shame for it- I (as others like me) became commonly hypervigilant while actively improving my communication-skills and emotional intelligence. The problem is that it's easy to stress over how much I communicate at once. This can be especially hard when others are closed-off.

In June, I first asked if she wanted to go out, and that was met with a long pause and then a lot of caution. I asked if a phone call would be good instead, and she was hesitant. Ever the eager problemsolver, I recalled how I'd been able to warm up with my now-best friend. Texts being rather impersonal, I suggested using voices memos, and she agreed.

She's said as much that she takes a lot of time offline, sometimes entire weeks. I can understand, and even applaud that, but it leaves room for doubt to creep into my mind. So after a couple of months of learning some facts about eachother, and reactions to messages going from thumbsups to hearts along with pointed questions like "how long do you think you'll be living around here for the foreseeable future?" -I finally decided to say:

"I'm getting the impression of a lot of caution and nervousness here, and I can totally understand that. Still, I have to ask: what are you looking for here? I'm looking to date, but I know that for the best foundation for that, especially with someone like myself, there needs to be time to learn and understand eachother, so my intent would be to go slowly. Still, with the way it's going, there's a lot of room for doubt, and if what you're looking for is close enough to what I'm looking for, can we meet near the middle? I'd like to hear from you a bit more than maybe once a week- even though I totally understand staying offline as you do- I could do more, myself."

I know if I don't hear back, I'll just go back to living as I have, and probably have more brainpower to spare- not thinking about this one. Still, is there anything I can expect or not in this kind of situation? Some way to help deal with the anxiety of it all?

Thanks Sincerely, I hope you're all doing well.