Me: 46. Male. Gen X. Veteran. Single for a while. Upstanding guy who has his stuff together. Looking for a relationship. It's been a while since I was in a reciprocal relationship, so I am MGTOW, but reluctantly. I am living my life in preparation for both having, or not having, any more relationships in my life.

I've crafted this post a couple different times, but my main goal here is to NOT give the impression that I am trying to gish gallop with a litany of questions. But, I am a naturally very curious person, so I have a lot of questions. My quandary is specifically about finding a relationship - but in our current climate.

I think that all humans need relationships of all sorts, depths, and levels.

Distilled down, I notice how women adore their fathers, brothers, male cousins, and sons. I would like to have a relationship with a woman that has that same level of depth and caring, but obviously also romantic in nature. (But, don't avoid the question by falsely accusing me of pedophilia or incest.)

I'm a fully-formed upstanding guy who has had a few really deep long-term relationships in the past, but things are different now. In today's day and age, what's the best philosophy or mindset to use? I'm only looking for the opportunity, I'm not assuming guarantees.

If your suggested strategy is, "Just give up and get used to being alone," then that's valid. But, I'll ignore answers like "don't ask a fish how to fish," or, "didn't your mother teach you how to treat women" - as I see neither as being productive answers towards the type of relationship that I would like to have.