CreativeDominant
Posts: 11032
Joined: 3/11/2006 Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Lumus I'm afraid I'm not following you. I never said or meant to infer that appreciation and expectation are interchangeable; quite the opposite. They are separate, distinct, but not mutually exclusive concepts. Here, I'm defining expectation as what you believe will occur; appreciation steps beyond that equation to say, "this is how things are" - meaning that you go by fact, not what you believe will become fact. I'm not surprised that you have expectations; I'm surprised that you value what you think is your relationship over what I meant by appreciation, which is what it is. In other words, you might think something in the relationship is and always will be, which I've seen firsthand isn't always the case. Appreciation, by the definition I'm offering above, looks at the relationship as it is without bias - and there's aways bias, which is evidenced by the fact that people regularly miscommunicate and have arguments...which is healthy, by the way.  I will, respectfully, disagree. Appreciation of "how things are" can lead acceptance and to inaction. My ex became about as frigid as the weather in International Falls, Mn...short periods of heat and sultriness interspersed with much longer periods of dryness and cold, arctic-like behavior. For awhile, I tried to change this. Eventually, I just began to accept it...to appreciate that "this is how it is" and I became inactive. Then my anger over the situation and my expectations from before I'd ever married her began to come to the forefront and I began to "make noise". It eventually led to our parting. We have been apart for 9 years now and I do not appreciate the change in her behavior any more now then I did then. I accept it...but I do not have to live with it because my expectations for the sexual expression of our union remain different than hers. This is one reason why any submissive I deal with is told early on what my expectations are for the sexual part of our dynamic. I expect these things and I want a submissive who expects this type of sexuality...frequency, intensity, duration...AND appreciates it and understands that I will not appreciate nor expect anything less barring reasons such as health or a TEMPORARY situation which we both have agreed will be limiting in our time together in all ways. I expect communication and will not appreciate a situation in which it is not forthcoming nor will I expect less just because it is difficult for the submissive to communicate. I will be extremely patient while helping her learn to communicate effective but I expect her to let me help her communicate...in some form or fashion...with me or the relationship suffers. I expect civility and courtesy and I do not expect nor would I appreciate anything less. Arguments happen but there are ways to conduct arguments that do not involve screaming at the top of your lungs or calling your partner names or being "in my face" me being "in her face". I expect patience and understanding and I do not expect nor would I appreciate anything less. As noted by many on many posts before, including me...I am not perfect (yeah, I know...hard to believe) and I am going to make mistakes. More so at the beginning of the dynamic than after time has passed but they will be there. I expect that...the mistakes... of myself but I do not appreciate it and so, I strive to reduce them. I expect my submissive to have patience and understanding with those mistakes and note them mainly so she can see that they do occur less and less and concentrate more on what I do right. She has the right to expect patience and understanding from me as I am new to her, my ways are new to her...while many things I do may be similar to what she has known in the past, I am an individual in my own right with my own twist on things. So while she may do her level best, there are going to be mistakes on her part also. I expect this. I also expect them to occur less and less frequently and would not appreciate them occurring over and over...to use your phrase, that would be an appreciation of "how things are" and could be used as a basis for inaction...no attempt to make things better, no attempt to change behaviors, nothing. These are my basic expectations. Most of them are reciprocal expectations. When they are not met, the situation would not be met with appreciation but with communication about how to get to a point where the expectations are met on both sides.
< Message edited by CreativeDominant -- 4/10/2008 7:57:53 AM >
|