The Situationship Survival Guide

This week, Alex is calling out the situationship epidemic. She dives into the different types of situationships, the cycle of chasing inconsistent attention, and why losing the fantasy of what could have been can hurt more than an actual breakup. She also shares advice on taking someone off the pedestal, recognizing when you are compromising what you actually want, and shifting the focus back onto yourself so you can finally move on. Enjoy!

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Alex Cooper?

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• 0:40Alex Cooper?

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• 1:18Speaker 01

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• 1:48Alex Cooper?

  Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Uber. Uber just introduced a new feature called Women Preferences, which lets women riders request a woman driver directly in the app. It's honestly an amazing feature that gives women more control over their rides. Sometimes we all just want a ride that feels a little more comfortable and chill. So if you haven't used it yet, Uber's new Women Preferences feature is available now in the Uber app. Learn more on the Uber app. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another Sunday session. I realize there is an epidemic that we kind of need to address, okay? And it's affecting our nation. It's affecting

• 2:29Alex Cooper?

  our friends. It's affecting our family, our coworkers. It's affecting the girls at your Pilates, Sculpt classes. It is, it's always been prevalent in our society, but I fear it is becoming more popular than ever. What am I talking about? I am, of course, talking about the good old situationship, okay? Do not get me wrong. I am sure situationships have been around since the beginning of time. There was absolutely someone caveman days being like, hey, I would really like to hang out with you, you know, in this cave, but I'm not looking for anything serious right now.

• 3:14Alex Cooper?

  And I'm not judging anyone for getting caught in a situationship. I actually would say you probably haven't even lived until you've tiptoed around the what are we conversation for about three months, right? But I will say, I think it is time to face this epidemic head on, daddy gang, which is why today I wanted to present to you the Call Her Daddy Situationship Detox Plan. Here we go. Everyone's like, nope, I'm clicking out. I totally get if you're in a situationship and you don't want to hear from me right now. Live with your head in the sand, right? Like, I get it, girls. Some of you are like, no, no, no, no, no. But I do think a lot of you want to

• 3:57Alex Cooper?

  hear about this because I've gotten a lot of DMs of like, how to survive a situationship. So let's just get into it. What exactly even is a situationship? I am so glad that you asked. I was talking to my friend about this the other day, and she's recently single. She's not ready to start seriously dating again, but she did say to me, she's like, but I don't know, like, maybe I would love a situationship. I literally grabbed her wrist and I was like, listen to me. Listen to me, Becky. Okay, that's not her name. But I said, we do not want a situationship, okay? Because, because, because, because for so many reasons, because the very foundation of a situationship is built

• 4:40Alex Cooper?

  upon the idea that one person wants a relationship and the other wants the attention without the commitment. And so sure, Becky, you can seek one out and find someone willing to come over and snuggle and watch Grey's Anatomy with you. But then, are you down for days of wondering if he's going to text you? Is that really worth that one couch snuggle or that one really good like, oh, but he's so good in bed? I know what you're thinking, because I've been there before. You're like, you know what, maybe, maybe it's the woman who would be the one in the situationship, okay?

• 5:22Alex Cooper?

  And I, guys, I completely agree. Girls can want casual too. Women can want casual too. That's not what I'm saying. I am just saying that you have to be honest with yourself about it. And with love to me, myself, and I, when I was in college and high school and out of college, and to all my girls watching, and to my friends that I was having brunch with, I just know the second the guy is gonna tell my friend, at least in this current situation in her mental state, like, oh, you look so cute in sweatpants. I know she's cooked. I know she's cooked, because I know she actually likes this guy. And as much as she's like, oh, my God, a situationship would be like, kind of major with him. No, no, no, a relationship would be major with him. You're just saying the

• 6:07Alex Cooper?

  beginning days of this could be major with him, but then you're also kind of fantasizing. You're not actually thinking about crying on the bathroom floor when he doesn't answer you at 2:00 AM. As I was talking to her about this, I did realize, and I think it's important to break this down, situationships come in all shapes and sizes. And I think it's important to identify them, especially if you are someone that could be getting caught up in these, right? So I want to walk through a few today. Again, all of the queens calling the shots in a situationship. I salute you. I love you. But to make it easier today, I am going to just kind of talk to the girls, which is primarily my audience, who are in a situationship with a man, and they want more,

• 6:47Alex Cooper?

  okay? Again, I know, I know that we can be the players too, guys. But you guys, if you are in that situation, you don't need my help. We need the girls who are currently crying on the bathroom floor. This is for you.

• 7:14Alex Cooper?

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• 7:57Alex Cooper?

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• 8:41Alex Cooper?

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• 9:20Alex Cooper?

  to your list of accomplishments? Head to Shopify dot com slash daddy. That's Shopify dot com slash daddy. The first situationship that I want to address, because there's a bunch of different ones, is just the classic situationship, okay? Case A, let's call it. You basically, let's say you start hooking up with a guy who says he doesn't want anything serious. He just got out of a long-term relationship two whole years ago, probably. But you hold on tight in case he changes his mind, right? That's case A. That's like the classic. I would say case B is like the deadline situationship, right? And this is kind of more when like, he likes, he says he likes you, but

• 10:05Alex Cooper?

  he also tells you immediately like, oh, he's moving away in, usually in an unidentified amount of time, right? Like, maybe it's for business school, or maybe, you know, he's going to surf camp in Costa Rica at the end of summer. Either way, he basically explains to you he can't get attached before he moves. And, you know, God forbid he falls in loves and you guys do long distance. That's not an option, okay? He's moving, so we have to keep it casual. Then I would say the other option of a situationship, case C, would be more like the intimacy in the front, avoidance in the back situationship. What does that even mean? Okay, what I mean is, on the second date, he introduces you to his parents. Oh, yes, he does. And on the third date, you know,

• 10:50Alex Cooper?

  you're driving down the coast, you're going to Joshua Tree with him for a weekend away. It is all gas. It is no brakes. You are flying high until he accuses you of moving too fast. And then he goes radio silent and he leaves you watching avoidant attachment TikToks and he completely goes to you and you have no idea what you did wrong. You're like, wait, I literally met his parents. I may or may not have my entire Pinterest board as wedding dresses and engagement rings. What happened? It's like, babe, you happened thinking that this man who you've known for 48 hours was actually in love with you. Sorry, was that too harsh? Okay. Then case D.

• 11:29Alex Cooper?

  I would say this is like the sleeper situation ship. Okay. And this one I do think may have

• 11:38Alex Cooper?

  kind of gotten a lot of us. It's gotten me before. It's probably gotten you before. It's the sneakiest one. It's maybe the most common one, which is the situation ship that can just be hiding in plain sight. Case in point, it's called, or I'm calling it the sleeper situation ship, right? It has been going on for so long. And you look up and you realize it is two years later, and he still thinks it's too soon to bring you to his college friend's wedding. Two years, we're in the camp for two years. You know, everyone in his life. You know, every mole on his body. You know, every tattoo. You know, every craving. You know, every food he likes. You know,

• 12:20Alex Cooper?

  everything. You know, everything about him. But still, still, there's no permanence to it, right? I think no matter the case, whichever one you've fallen into, it basically, I think, every situation ship, it has a few classic benchmarks. So I want to like, talk about basically, like, the life of a situation ship, starting from the very beginning. Like, how does this happen? Right? And what are the effects of it to all my girls? Okay, let's start with, there is this adrenaline high that comes with entering into a situation ship, right?

• 12:58Alex Cooper?

  Let me set the scene. Maybe you're at the bar. Maybe you matched on Tinder. But you meet this guy, and the chemistry is undeniable. It is electric. It's just immediate, right? And then, from there, anytime his name pops up on your phone, your heart just drops. And pretty soon, you're texting every single day. And you're both going back and forth, and the speed is lightning, and you're texting, and you're hanging out one or two nights a week, and you're sending pictures of the food you ate for lunch. And all of a sudden, you kind of start to have these inside jokes. And it's, you know, it's not consistent, but it's a high that you start to have. And you're not dumb. You're not fully planning a wedding in your head yet. But you're

• 13:41Alex Cooper?

  also not, not looking at your wedding schedule for next summer. And, you know, thinking about, like, ooh, like, am I allowed to bring a plus to one to Cassandra's wedding? Because he could be the one. And so it's like, in a real relationship, you're getting constant reassurance. But in a situation ship, one day, you're the sexiest woman he's ever laid eyes on. And then the next, you don't exist enough to even warrant a text. Okay. And so this is where psychology just comes through and hits us right in the face, you guys. When this happens, this actually triggers something called intermittent reinforcement, which, let me just explain,

• 14:22Alex Cooper?

  it literally means, it's basically the same exact feeling as if you go to Vegas, okay? And you keep hitting those slot machines, ladies, and you're like, boom, boom, hit it again, boom, the slot machines, that high, that feeling is the same thing in a situation ship. When you don't know when the next hit is coming, whether it's a kiss or a text, your brain starts chasing after it. And because it's so unpredictable, like a Vegas slot machine, your brain releases a way bigger spike of dopamine when it actually finally arrives, because you're waiting, you're waiting, you're waiting. Oh, my God, it happened. So in a normal,

• 15:05Alex Cooper?

  consistent relationship, you can just be level headed. And you can ask yourself, like, oh, do I actually like this guy? Like, but in a situation ship, you literally become addicted to the highs that this very, very, very emphasis on very average man's attention is giving you.

• 15:25Alex Cooper?

  So like, I think it's like, really important to also recognize, like, guys, like, he's actually not that special. It's literally just the up and down feels so good to our bodies, even though it's not good for our bodies, that it's like masking that he's actually an interesting stand up man, that you're like, oh, he'd look so good in my family. And so that's why all the red flags, I think, go out the frickin' window, right? He still brings up his ex, but like,

• 15:56Alex Cooper?

  isn't it just so great? Like, he's been in a serious relationship before. It's like, I will know. But this is, guys, this is what we do ourselves. I'm like, okay, fine. Like, you know, he's never once mentioned, like, any future plan. But, you know, we're taking things day by day. Like, we're good like that. Like, we communicate. Like, when it's time, it's time. We don't want to rush anything. And then, all of a sudden, right as you start to get comfortable, and you keep telling yourself all these lies, right as you stop analyzing every text and hook up, and you kind of like, start to get a little bit more comfortable, the sky, it's like a movie,

• 16:36Alex Cooper?

  the sky just like randomly turns dark. And all the crows start to circle, and you feel a little chill down your spine. You're like, oh, what's going on? And maybe he doesn't, you know, respond to a text for a day. Maybe you talked about hanging out after his work thing, and he never followed up with you. Maybe he stopped Snapchatting you good morning, even though you can see he's active, and his snap score keeps going up. And you tell yourself, oh, yeah, um, he's just busy. He's busy with work. He's such a working man. But you know, the truth. You know, the truth,

• 17:15Alex Cooper?

  guys. Something has shifted. So that is like, phase one of our situation ships. Lightning, boom, I'm in love. This is amazing. He didn't text me. Oh, my God, I got the dopamine hit. Boom, he's back. Oh, this feels good. And then you enter phase two. And phase two is basically trying to be chill while having absolutely no chill. And this is the phase where maybe you kind of lightly bring up somehow, some way, without coming off like a full psycho, the idea of being exclusive, right? And, and maybe you don't verbatim say the word exclusive, but you

• 17:59Alex Cooper?

  kind of start to like, test the waters a little bit, because you're a little bit like, okay, all of this inconsistency is starting to make me feel like I need a little bit more consistency, and I like him. So like, let's try to lock something down here a little bit. And when you try to bring this up, you're met with the classic,

• 18:16Alex Cooper?

  I really like hanging out with you. I'm just like, not ready for something serious. And then you tell yourself, because you just got rejected, you tell yourself, oh, my God, it's totally valid. Totally? Totally. Right? Like, babe, don't be crazy. Like, Rome wasn't built in a day. I can't expect too much. Maybe you even remember that story that your girlfriend told you about how her dad wasn't sure about her mom, and now they've been married for 40 years, and they have four kids, and they're, you know, their marriage is so successful. And it's like, see, Tim, Tim and, Tim and Teresa, they didn't have an immediate bond. But now they

• 18:58Alex Cooper?

  live on the cul-de-sac, and they've got four kids. And that is so going to be me and him, right? And you think, okay, okay, Tim and Teresa, Tim and Teresa, what's the harm in me and Bobby taking our time? Right? And then you start to really just say, like, I am that, I'm that cool girl. I'm not some crazy girl who needs commitment. I know all my friends are kind of like, girl, he doesn't really like you. But like, I'm better than that. Like, I don't need commitment. I trust him. You're chill. You're zen. You're almost like, let me just tell you, you're lying to yourself. But we're not going to acknowledge that yet. Oh, we're so zen.

• 19:44Alex Cooper?

  Okay. And you're lying to yourself, because in the process, you are slowly, day by day, text by text, casual hang by casual hang, compromising on what you want, which is a relationship, which is, to clarify, not that I should have to, a totally valid want, because you are a human being, right? And so that's why each passing day, the anxiety just starts to get a little worse. Okay, hurts a little bit more. Every stupid thumbs up text with no response, and they just double tap it and give you a little liked. It kind of starts to feel like

• 20:27Alex Cooper?

  a dagger to your soul. At first, you were like, oh, he's just busy. And now you're starting to be like, what does that mean? Oh, my God. What, what does that mean? And you start to spiral more and more, because you feel more invested. And he hasn't even moved off the line of when you guys first met at the bar. He still looks at you the exact same way, and you have progressed in your mind. And that is where we enter good old phase three.

• 21:10Alex Cooper?

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• 21:45Speaker 01

  Nowadays, you have certain expectations when you fly, like people napping on the airport floor or flying in your pajamas. You know what you don't expect? Free drinks. But now T-Mobile members get a free premium drink when they fly Delta Airlines. So just sit back, relax, and switch to T-Mobile today. Visit T-Mobile dot com slash membership for details. It's better over here. Get a free premium Delta drink with eligible plan and link SkyMiles account 24 hours before qualifying. Flight required. Must be 21 or older. CT life for terms.

• 22:16Alex Cooper?

  This is where you become a detective. You become a detective. So the opposite of anxiety is action, right? And so that's what you do to distinguish this all-consuming feeling of complete lack of control. You start to get real creepy. We've all been there. My friend who shall not be named, I remember in college, she once made a burner account for just some fake brand at the time. And she bought followers, she bought likes, she bought engagement, all so that she could follow all of the random blondes

• 22:59Alex Cooper?

  that her situationship followed on Instagram. And you guys, it was so convincing, okay? She was so good at being a detective that one of these women actually DM'd her to do a brand collab. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And even though our stalking powers, they run deep and they are impressive and we deserve an award, honestly. This isn't healthy. I will say though, when I look back at some of the days of me like sleuthing and just like looking at my situationships, I would be like, I am literally Inspector Gadget on a level that like,

• 23:40Alex Cooper?

  I need someone to know this. Like I need to, I need to brag about the work that I've done today. Like I remember sometimes my roommate would come home and I would be like, Alex, shout out Alex.

• 23:54Alex Cooper?

  I'd be like, Alex,

• 23:57Alex Cooper?

  come sit down and let me just like walk you through what I did today. And she'd like get, she'd like make herself a cocktail and she'd just be like, tell me what you did. You're like, how did I even come up with that? But when you're that desperate to understand where your situationship is, oh my God, you will go above and beyond. Like it is so not healthy. It puts our bodies truly, when we get to this detective mode, you guys, it puts our bodies into a further state of anxiety. And it makes the man just the pure focus of your life, of all of your attention. And he then becomes even more of a prize, something that we just want to win. It's like this game we start playing with ourselves, which is why it's actually a good thing.

• 24:42Alex Cooper?

  And I know this doesn't feel like a good thing in the moment, but it's actually a good thing when you do enter phase four, which is the ending. Everyone's like, no, I thought you were going to tell us how to keep a situationship and make him fall in love and marry us. No, no. Okay. So the ending. Maybe you get a text. Maybe, maybe you run into him at a bar with another girl. Oh, it's happened to me. It stings. Maybe he says he just needs to focus on his career right now. We've all gotten that one at some point. That one is like,

• 25:25Alex Cooper?

  well, you could still be delusional when he does that too. You're like, oh my God, he's such a career man. And he's like, no, but I'm going to be so focused on my career. I can never see you again. And you're like, okay, but like, what about like, maybe if you catch a break, he's like, I'm never going to stop focusing on my career. And then you're like, okay, I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a punch to the face, right? Um, or maybe he just ghosts you. I don't know which is worse, right? Or honestly, I think worst case scenario could be, um, and this has actually happened to me back in college. Oof, I still get a chill down my spine when I think about it. Cause I will say, I didn't do this often, but I slipped up one big time.

• 26:06Alex Cooper?

  You have one too many tequila sodas and you just blurt out your feelings at 3:00 AM after the bar. You're hammered and you send a paragraph and you just tell him everything that you've been feeling and just building up in the situationship. And literally he either one ghosts you or he responds with like, I, hey, like I told you, like I didn't want anything serious from the beginning. Like, so sorry.

• 26:33Alex Cooper?

  Oh my God. And then you wake up and you're like, that's when you just like literally have to delete the thread. And you're like, that never happened. I'm one with God. The birds are chirping. The sky is blue. When you send that text and you're like,

• 26:46Alex Cooper?

  I sent a paragraph. Oh my God. Or you called them a million times and they weren't answering you. And then you're like, oh my God, like you see that you called him 14 times. Or you pretended like you really needed him, like not in danger, but you're like, oh my God, like I, like I need a place to stay or I'm right around the corner. Like, and then they just ghost, ghost, and they're like, literally like, leave me alone.

• 27:10Alex Cooper?

  Whichever way you get there, it's over, right? Some which way or whatever, whether it was so embarrassing and catastrophic, or just like a light embarrassment, something happens and it's over. And all that time obsessing, all those plans that didn't happen, all those things that weren't said.

• 27:31Alex Cooper?

  And you start to go through total withdrawal and it feels awful and it sucks. Because to emphasize, guys, in a normal breakup,

• 27:42Alex Cooper?

  everyone's checking in on you. Oh, you and Marty broke up. We're coming over. We're bringing a six pack. We're coming over. Don't you worry. We're bringing the pizza. They're taking you out for dinners. They're giving you comfort food. Your friends are buying you shit. Okay? And they're telling you how amazing you are and how this glow up, this post breakup glow up, oh my God, you're going to just be better than ever. And you're like, thanks guys. And they're just so there for you. And they're just constantly telling you how you're going to get through this and they're picking you up. And you're allowed to get drunk and cry and you're allowed to eat pints of ice cream because you're healing, queen. You are, you're healing. But when situationship ends, ooh,

• 28:26Alex Cooper?

  ooh, well, there's no pictures to delete off of social media. Cause again, you never dated. You probably, if anything, have like pictures in your camera of like his back that you like would send to your friends. Cause like, he also probably has never really like wanted to take a formal pic of you. So you've got like the arm pic that like you quickly took when he was looking away that you posted on your Instagram story and you like, you know, muted him so he couldn't see it. And then like, you've got like these like random one-off photos that you're like scrolling and looking at that you have to delete. But there's like probably not one photo of the two of you actually formally together. So you don't really have to delete that many photos.

• 29:06Alex Cooper?

  But regardless, you go through this and your pain is minimized. It's, it's going to be minimized, right? It's like, you're kind of not allowed to be sad, um, or like a little messy because babe, this was never real. Your friends are like, we literally told you that he hates you and, and we saw him having intercourse in Jack's bar in the bathroom. And you told us that we saw that wrong and it was a different man with curly black hair.

• 29:42Alex Cooper?

  And we, you ignored us. Like this never was real. And you're literally like, oh my God, I can't even cry. Cause they're right. It never existed. It never happened. There's no evidence. There's no evidence. Which makes you even more sad and lonely. It's even more devastating. You're like, oh my God. Oh my God, I'm so alone. I remember I had a friend and she broke up with her boyfriend of two years. And she actually barely cried. I had a friend that broke up with her boyfriend of like six years and she barely cried. But when her situationship of two months imploded, she was a fricking mess. It was DEFCON five. Okay, guys?

• 30:27Alex Cooper?

  The amount of just, we are, we are open that bottle of chilled red. We are downing it. We are talking about it. And I literally was like, guys, I will be the friend that understands the situationship issue, but there are a lot of friends who will not give you any grace, any grace. When your situation depends. But I was like, oh my God, I did take account. I'm like, damn, you didn't cry when you and Tommy broke up like this. What I did tell her though, I remember is it is so hard to get over a situationship because there is no closure, right? There's no big, we need to talk. There's no three hour crying sit down where you go to their apartment or they come to yours.

• 31:08Alex Cooper?

  It just honestly kind of fizzles out. And then you're left holding the bag, wondering what's wrong with you that this person couldn't fall in love with you. And the answer, I think you all know this, but I'm going to say it. The answer is nothing is wrong with you. I know it is a huge ass hit to the ego, but the best of us, we're going to find ourselves in situationships. That's just the reality, right? And it's not a judgment on your worth. It's an issue of incompatibility with this one, honestly, probably subpar human. It has nothing to do with your inadequacy. Like,

• 31:51Alex Cooper?

  just know you're in great company. Okay. When I think about this, I remember when I was going through a situationship and I think it was my sister that told me this. She was like, babe, look at Meredith Grey. Okay. Meredith and Derek from Grey's Anatomy. Pick me, choose me, love me. That sounds like a 3:00 AM terrible night when you're texting your situationship. Okay? That sounds like a girl in a situationship.

• 32:16Alex Cooper?

  With a guy that can't commit. Meanwhile, he had a wife. So you know, if you're doing better, if your situationship doesn't have a wife. I also always take solace in the fact that even our biggest pop star in the world got herself caught in a situationship. My queen, my absolute everything, Miss Taylor, Alison Swift. Okay. Think about this to make yourself feel better if you're going through a breakup, but it's a situationship. So no one actually cares. Think about this. Okay. Taylor dated Joe for what we can understand as years, right? But all of her songs from what we can gather on Tortured Poets were about Matty Healy.

• 32:58Alex Cooper?

  A situationship, a situationship. We have Joe and then we have Matty. And oh my God, those songs were incredible and they're some of my favorite of her songs, but it's more about the situationship than the actual relationship she was in.

• 33:12Alex Cooper?

  So if Taylor is going through it, so can we? Okay. And I get it's confusing, right? Like, why can we get over the end of a relationship? That was legit and it was our boyfriend, but we can get totally destroyed by a situationship. Like, oh, that is annoying and that doesn't make sense. It does make sense, you guys. I'm saying the answer, it's, it's because there is unlived potential. That's the answer. That's why situationship's ending hurts so much more than an actual relationship. If you think about it, in a normal relationship, you break up because you probably saw it through to the bitter end, or they cheated on you or something,

• 33:53Alex Cooper?

  but you really lived it out. You lived out the possibility of dating this person. You know that he leaves his gross beard hair. You know, when he trims it with his trimmer all in the sink. You know that his mom is overly attached and would make insane comments, probably when you got pregnant, she'd make really, really fat shaming comments if you ever got pregnant about your body. Like you just know her up and down. You can read her to filth. Okay. You know her tics and you know that he made a kind of shitty boyfriend or he was great. And then the ending, there was just not compatibility. Like whatever the story is, you know, by the end with your boyfriend, what the story was, but with a situationship, it is totally flipped. It's

• 34:34Alex Cooper?

  all about the fantasy and possibility with none of the reality. You don't know how this person would be in a relationship. You have never been able to just show up at their apartment and leave your stuff so casually and comfortably and sleep there and stay there when he goes to work. Like this is not the toothbrushes and all that. No. And I know it's a hard truth, but I think I do have to believe it actually helps. When you talk about it like this, get over a situationship. You have to acknowledge you are not mourning this person. Okay. If a situationship ends and you feel like you're actually dying inside and you're like, why does this hurt?

• 35:17Alex Cooper?

  You're not mourning this person. This person didn't want to be with you. This person probably actually sucks. And you're actually, what you're mourning is all the ways that you have built him up in your head. And guess what? The fantasy relationship will always be better than the real one. Every single damn time.

• 35:43Alex Cooper?

  But in order to truly get over the situationship, you need to stop fantasizing about this man. You need to take him off of the pedestal. Stop giving him credit for literally just existing. Let's go back to what I said. I said it in my, um, right person, wrong time episode. The fantasy is not real. Don't think about how he, you know, would have gotten along great with your sister's husband, or you know, how he, it would have been so fun to travel to Mallorca together. None of that. No, no. He's not your person.

• 36:17Alex Cooper?

  And you want to know why I know that is because you will never have to convince your person to want you. You will never have to act chill and unbothered and push down all of your feelings to not scare them away. The games won't matter. The texting won't matter. I mean, the texting, like, obviously, like, don't send insane texts, just in general, but you know what I mean? Like I had texted Matt some crazy text messages in the beginning if I was like drunk or whatever. And like, we made it. You know, we made it. We made it. Matt, really, you, you, you dealt with a lot and we made it. Okay. And see, a situationship would have just run because they're like, I don't need all this headache. Ugh. And Matt was like, okay, that's, that's a lot, but all right, let's

• 37:00Alex Cooper?

  talk about it. Let's, I'll take you to brunch and let me hear it. So just know that even if your situationship gets in a relationship also, maybe the next week, wouldn't that hurt? No. It's, you two weren't meant to be. Because guess what? He will probably be emotionally unavailable to that person too. And if he's not, then they were meant to be and you weren't. Okay. So I will say the final kind of phase of the situationship detox plan is stop making it about him and make it about you. In the situationship, you made all these little concessions

• 37:41Alex Cooper?

  along the way, right? But ask yourself, this is what I ask of you today. It's like, do I want to be with someone who leaves me on red for days? Do I want to be with someone who makes me feel anxious, who makes me feel insecure, who sometimes I even feel embarrassed around? The answer is no. You all know the answer. You have to basically take the spotlight that you are shining on this person and you need to swing it back around to yourself and you need to tell the part of your brain that is saying, oh my God, something is wrong with me. Because this one person of all these billion people on the planet didn't want you. Like,

• 38:21Alex Cooper?

  you need to just realize, what is the first thing he told you? Okay. A lot of times when you get into a situationship, they actually told you they didn't want to be in a relationship. They weren't looking for anything serious. And you not being able to change his mind, it's not a failure on you or your character, but you also need to be like, okay, why am I trying so hard to change this man? He told me. He told me, right? And if anything, this guy has probably learned either subconsciously or consciously that girls get hooked when he's inconsistent, right? And if he were to start being consistent, they'd see him for who he really is and he would lose all of them. Like there's such power that men, I think, find where they're

• 39:03Alex Cooper?

  like, oh my God, if I never fully show her who I am and I kind of ghost her and then I kind of show up and I kind of like, maybe take her on a date once a week, like, or once every couple of weeks. A woman is going to be like, wow, this guy's amazing. But if he's consistent, then all of a sudden you start to really understand who he is. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh, he's not actually that great. So maybe they've also figured it out. Situations work really well for men because they get to kind of hide all their flaws. And then we just like fill in all the blanks with all the roses and the fun stuff. And we're like, he's so amazing. And it's like, give me an example. What has he done?

• 39:33Alex Cooper?

  And you can't. Also, I will say, if you're still fantasizing about this person, there is literally no room to look ahead. And what I mean by that is like, you're comparing every new guy you meet to a fictionalized version of this guy that doesn't exist. Like you can't have this guy in your head and try to actually move forward. What if Taylor was still hung up on Matty Healy? She would have never met Travis. Okay. Look at our girl go now. They have a dog together, it seems. And the dog is adorable. Okay. She got everything she wanted because she finally moved on from her situationship.

• 40:16Alex Cooper?

  And because none of us ever know what's right around the corner, but girl, I guarantee you, just listen to me. Letting go of your situationship is so much better than hanging on for dear life, hoping he will one day decide to change his mind. I am telling you, okay. You know what changes minds? Losing you and realizing it was a huge mistake. But by that time, you'll be off of the situationship addiction train and you'll actually be able to see him with clear eyes, full heart, can't lose. Oh, you're a loser. It's so fun when a situationship comes back around and you're like, I actually just got the ick. I can't believe I ever had sex with you. Oh my God, what was I thinking? I was in a vortex. I

• 41:00Alex Cooper?

  was in an actual love bombed haze and I had no idea. You deserve so much better.

• 41:24Alex Cooper?

  Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Ross. Fall is about finding pieces you love, making them your own and creating looks and spaces just right for the season. Whether you're updating a small apartment or a spacious home, drawn to timeless neutrals or bold seasonal touches, Ross makes it easy to imagine what's next and bring your fall vision to life. Ross makes fashion accessible to all with up to 20 to 60% off other retailers' prices on the brands you love. Find your nearest Ross at rossstores.com. Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Klaviyo. So Klaviyo says it's your brand's best friend. Both claim, but here's the thing. Klaviyo knows your brand, your tone, your customers,

• 42:08Alex Cooper?

  all your data in one place. Klaviyo's AI agents answer them 24/7 in your voice and build your campaigns from one prompt emails, texts, and WhatsApp. Plus Klaviyo finds your next sale before you do. It's time to meet your new CRM BFF. Go to K-L-A-V-I-Y-O.com/bestfriends. I know this is not easy. And like I have always said, if I was listening to this when I was in college, I either would have turned it off or been like la, la, la, la, la and taken what I wanted and ignored the rest. We have to be really honest with ourselves

• 42:51Alex Cooper?

  about where we're at in our life. And if you keep repeating patterns and getting into situationships and ignoring when people are telling you that they don't want something serious, I do think it's a problem. It's similar to when I've talked about, you know, like if you're looking for someone with like marriage material, if a man, I'm just using a man because whatever, if a man is telling you like, yeah, I definitely don't want kids, why are we trying to change his mind? If a man is telling you that, yeah, I would never want to do XYZ, stop trying to change people's minds. I think it's so important, listen to who someone tells you they are the minute they show you in the very beginning, you guys. Obviously, there are things that you can uncover about people as you get to know

• 43:33Alex Cooper?

  them more. But I would say generally, in the beginning, you can listen and you can observe and you can kind of get the gist of who someone is. And it's, it is at some point on us to take accountability when people are showing us that and we decide to go blindly in and ignore these obvious signs. At some point, we have to recognize, oh, got it. It isn't even really about the person. You're addicted to something in the dynamic of the chase or the win or the dopamine hit or whatever it is. There's something with your ego that is getting so filled up. And trust me, you guys, when I was in college, and I've talked about this before, when I was younger, I didn't feel great. I wasn't

• 44:16Alex Cooper?

  like the girl that every guy was going for. And so when I got to college and I felt so confident in myself and I was like, oh, I had a glow up, let's go. I was so obsessed with getting validation from men and playing games and the up and the down and like the chase. And I just got so addicted to it. And it was so fun because I literally was like, I won, I won, I won. But then you're like, but what did you win? Whether you are like tricking them into liking you because you're actually not being authentically yourself and you're just showing up as a version because then you get to be like, oh my God, I got him. But you're like, but you literally, you, you hate soccer and, and you hate the

• 44:59Alex Cooper?

  foosball team that he plays on at the bar downtown every Thursday that you made matching shirts for and you go and you're on his foosball team now and you're like miserable when you're there and you're just pretending because you want to come off as the cool girl. But then all of a sudden you like keep going with him and you're like, why am I here? Or like you pretend you like that, whatever it is, you pretend you like the sex, you pretend you're having an orgasm. Like the more that you go along with things that you don't actually like, all of a sudden, you're so much more invested in it. And they're just usually just like showing up as themselves, giving bare minimum energy, just being like, oh yeah, come on over. And you're putting so much work into something, but it's not genuinely making you feel good. And there's like an ulterior motive in your subconscious

• 45:43Alex Cooper?

  that is again, fueling your ego or your insecurities or something from your childhood or whatever it be. And that is, I think, where we really have to look at ourselves and be like, that's dangerous. Situationships are not dangerous, but if the, you consistently see a pattern of yourself putting yourself in that situation, it's dangerous. And I did, I was addicted to the chase and the game and getting the guy and all of it. And then I got into therapy. I was like, what's wrong with me? Why am I doing this? And then I worked through it and it was really hard to unlearn because the high is so insane. The high is so fun.

• 46:22Alex Cooper?

  The high is the high. Like I said, it's not much different than being in Vegas. So be easy on yourself, but also just recognize the patterns. And yeah, that's all I will say for this week. I hope the situationship detox hit you right where it needed to hit you. And just know, I've been through it. So I'm not coming on here as anyone, no one's judging you. Okay. And we kind of all have to go through it and it is fun until it's not. And it's not anymore. So end it. Um, okay. I love you guys so much. You know the motherfucking drill. I will see you fuckers on Wednesday. Goodbye.

• 47:13Alex Cooper?

  Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Ross. Fall is about finding pieces you love, making them your own and creating looks and spaces just right for the season. Whether you're updating a small apartment or a spacious home, drawn to timeless neutrals or bold seasonal touches, Ross makes it easy to imagine what's next and bring your fall vision to life. Ross makes fashion accessible to all with up to 20 to 60% off other retailers' prices on the brands you love. Find your nearest Ross at rossstores.com. Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Walkhole. Women wear a lot of hats and no two days look exactly the same. Women's bodies are constantly changing from stress, hormones,

• 47:57Alex Cooper?

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• 48:39Alex Cooper?

  all your data in one place. Klaviyo's AI agents answer them 24/7 in your voice and build your campaigns from one prompt emails, texts, and WhatsApp. Plus Klaviyo finds your next sale before you do. It's time to meet your new CRM BFF. Go to K-L-A-V-I-Y-O.com/bestfriends.