TL;DR- Never under any circumstances think you are limited in options, whether it be short term or long term women. The man controls the number of options he has by continuing to improve himself. Women have expiration dates on them. There will ALWAYS be better, smarter, hotter, younger, kinder women out there for you to choose from. But you need to get your sht together and focus first.

Wall of Text: Checked this thread out after my break up a year ago. I was a complete blue pill pssy back then. Got my ass stomped all over by her. Thought that due to my religious beliefs, I needed to play the good guy who did everything right and limited sex and my own personal needs for the better. Got cheated on multiple times (she was riding the CC but I thought it was just a phase at the time) and it broke me. Called it off. Worked on school and the gym. Some days were bad, real bad. Others were insignificant. I didn't jump and I thank God for it. Whipped my ass into shape, fought with the family to move out. Got into the graduate program I wanted with a decent paying research part time job and settled into a new city with roommates who looked after me like real brothers. 6 months later I'm starting my graduate work and the same girl is begging for my dick. Told me she dated a guy after me and regretted it thoroughly. Said he was completely immature and didn't have the vision I had. Told me I looked so different now, that I wasn't as wishy washy as back then. Her friends even asked her why she downgraded. Lots of ego stroking ensued. Had crazy sex that week (mind you I'm coming from an extremely conservative religious background, was brought up that way but at this point I said fuck it).

I hit the university gym today and you know what I realize? I should've kicked her to the curb and continued my journey on self improvement. I could've done better. So much tail at the gym. Girls with a hard work ethic and a body much better than hers. I don't want to go out and sleep with hot girls. I don't want different tail every other week. I just wanted someone to settle down with and raise my children right. Someone who hits the gym and brings home the money. A unicorn in essence. Even if I couldn't have a unicorn, I'd at least have better options if I had dropped her ass sooner and entered monk mode.

I'm not perfect and it makes me cringe at how bitchy I was back then. I still have a lot to improve on and the hardest part for me right now is maintaining a consistent frame and not letting weekend tail get in the way of my self-improving habits. A year ago I was sitting here reading about all these stories of men who got their sht together and literally changed their lives to something they wanted. I was an angry angsty wuss. I never would've thought I'd be in the same spot within a year. If hadn't buckled down and stuck to a regimen, if I hadn't said "fuck all of you I'm gonna do what I want and work hard to get what I want. I'm gonna be goddam happy with my decisions", I'd still be a little BP bitch reading this thread and wondering if I'll ever get there. There's a lot in this novel that some won't agree with but I'm just sharing my experience and what I went through. This thread was 100% correct with abundance mentality among numerous other things. Hopefully it helps someone who's in my shoes currently.

Lessons Learned:

-No matter what your relationship goals are (long term wife material or short term tail), there are ALWAYS better options out there. DO NOT SETTLE FOR LESS. DO NOT GET TIED DOWN UNTIL YOU ARE SATISFIED WITH YOUR CHOICE.

-For men especially, we age like fine wine. Doesn't matter how long it takes for you to get that MS/PhD/MD/OD/whatever the fuck, just get it. You'll always have time to date and fuck and workout. Women not so much. I didn't believe this until I realized she's getting awfully close to the wall and has discovered that the men she dated after we broke up were not up to my caliber.

-Speaking to the religious here: my faith should not have been used to tie down my options when it came to women. I'll probably have to come to grips with what I've done and the friction between moral choices. But there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING wrong with kicking someone to the curb if they are not up to your standards. Never ever lower your standards. If a woman is treating you like sht, get rid of her. Doesn't matter how good you want to be, you'd be doing her a favor by dropping her ass and letting her hit rock bottom.