Hey there. While TRP is primarily about sexual strategy for men, it also deals with cultivating one's masculinity and self-actualizing.

So where do I begin? I'm in my mid-twenties. Had a middle class upbringing in a developing country.

My dad is a brilliant but short tempered egoist (has slight narcissistic traits too) who used to spank me regularly up to the age of 17. He's the very definition of a workaholic. He's come up the hard way. My mom is an emotionally needy woman who lives vicariously through her children (I have a younger brother). She subtly manipulates us every now and then through crying etc.

As a result of my sheltered upbringing, I never developed a sense of self or real friendships. As my dad rapidly progressed in his career over the years due to his brilliance and work ethic, we experienced a fair bit of upward socio-economic mobility and are now upper class. Back in the day, we got the odd fortnightly family dinner at XYZ restaurant which was supposed to compensate for the lack of communication and real connections across the board.

My Uni years were a blur, centred around fapping, watching soccer and chatting online.

Fast forward to today, I struggle to assert myself without feeling guilty. I have little to no real world ambition, the kind which is expected of a guy like me. I'm an approval seeking people pleaser, which is why I never formed friendships (I realised that your peers and women only respect you when you are capable of taking a stand and defending it passionately).

I've started making positive changes such as learning a foreign language, exercising religiously every day, eating clean. But then I look at people my age who are from a similar strata of society and I see them networking, having way more real life experiences, social circles and then end up feeling like a complete zombie. A little kid, essentially. My mental paradigms are completely out of whack.

If anyone's been through a similar situation, how did you overcome it? Counselling?

Thanks for reading if you got this far. Another motivation of mine behind asking this question is I don't want my younger brother to turn out like me. He's 20 and in Uni right now.

Cheers, you guys are a great community and the only one who will offer real advice.

EDIT: I am of course a virgin. Don't think I'm ready to approach sex in a healthy way yet.