I have been pondering this these past few weeks because I have been having some troubles with my boyfriend lately, and I realized I THOUGHT I was showing respect for him but it wasn't coming off in my actions. I never meant it to come off as disrespectful but in the end I was.

I always thought respect was acknowledging your man's abilities - typically his intellect or skills or moral character. However this week I realized respect has another side to it - respecting his space, respecting his need for HIS freedom to choose and make his decisions, because this freedom is so crucial to him being a man.

A lot of this comes down to typical female behavior - nagging or pressuring. It doesn't matter if you're a soft place to land, if you pressure him every night to come over to your apartment, he's going to start avoiding you because of the pressure. However if he has the freedom to choose to come to you, he most likely will. It's also his OWN test of how much he loves you - does he choose to come back to you? That means you really mean something to him. No woman should have to pressure a man to stay with her.