Summary: People, spouses, significant others, family, will always manipulate you. Don't wait until it's too late, take the red pill. Be flexible but not malleable.

In recent reflections, I’ve determined the course of my past relationships (platonic as well as romantic), have been coerced into one common direction, submission of myself as a man. Through the attempt to be a “good guy” I have chosen time and again the route which protects the other party in the relationship, rather than protecting myself. Sure, to and extent, this trait is useful, needed, and has its benefits. Its important in relationships to be able to see things from the other party’s eyes, bend and sway on topics in which I’m being stubborn and try to grow together. However, there is a delicate balance needed to maintain this idea. I’ve realized to maintain the bond of a relationship, it is important to realize when I’m wrong and accept it rather than be stubborn. But how far do we take that line? How far do we allow others to change our outlook on situations, conflicts, and ideas? The answer to this is a lot simpler than I previously anticipated. The distance we allow others to bend our perception is to the point where it begins to erode at the substance of our morals. Even more-so important is to know, without a shadow of a doubt, what your morals are. I’ve only just started to compile my list of my morals, and I personally believe we can’t truly live, can’t truly have deep, long lasting, quality relationships until we know the root and source of the decisions and actions we make. Moral development and definition is a completely other topic, so I digress.

The true reason I’m writing today is to define my reasons for choosing the red pill. I used to self-identify as an open, accepting person. More often than not I found myself accepting things common in today’s culture that I previously cringed at (gay marriage, right to abortion, etc.) because I had the philosophy “as long as it doesn’t directly affect me, then who cares?” Well as of late, I’m beginning to realize that even though these certain things may not directly affect me, my acceptance of them DOES. Accepting things and not being passionate on your stance allows you to become malleable. It allows even the novice manipulator to change your mind on the smaller ideas one by one, eventually leading to changing your stance on the biggest, most important pieces of your moral tissue. Once a manipulator sees a weak opponent, they strike, and begin to chip away at that person’s psyche until they become what they want them to be, do what they want them to do, say what they want them to say. Then, more often than not, once that person has become what the manipulator wants, they accuse the manipulatee of being weak, worthless, and begin to wear down their psyche even further. Once the manipulator has realized a certain level of conquest, they begin to switch into a mode of long-term domination, keeping their victim in a state of duress, preventing them from rising up and becoming the stronger versions of themselves they once were.

I have chosen the red-pill because I’m done being manipulated. I’m done being coerced into believing certain things to be true, when my gut knows it to not be. My gut has proven itself to be correct time and time again. I would place it at about a 98% success rate for knowing what is truly going on. But living in my blue-pill personality, I believed there were reasons to doubt my gut. I started thinking it was possible my manipulators were right, and that ended a few weeks ago when I finally took the red pill. Since, I’ve felt more powerful, more like a man, and stronger than ever before. This is directly due to realizing that, at one point, I had taken the red pill as a young boy, but allowed someone to cram a blue pill down my throat and force me to submit to factors I previously would never had. I have made a conscious decision to revert back to my previous state. I will admit, in my blue-pill ignorance, I have still learned to repair certain instances of my personality which can become destructive, but even more so, with this knowledge, I am becoming the self-actualized version of myself I am destined to become.

I personally believe we can swallow the red pill at any time, but we have to be on our guard and watch our drinks for manipulators slipping blue pills to us. You have to put yourself first. You have to become the version of yourself that doesn’t allow others to persuade you so easily. I will be the first to admit it wasn’t until my manipulator took advantage of my submitted state too far that I had a moment of clarity about what I’d given up and given into, so my situation is one of necessity. It was necessary for me to swallow the red pill again and become the alpha-male I know I am. Had I not, destruction would have met my life with full force. But I write this, hoping somewhere out there that blue pill version of myself is reading this. Someone just like the old me that got turned on to the idea of the red pill by someone decent enough to not take advantage of that person but turn them onto a path of self-restoration and preservation. I regret waiting until my rock-bottom to restore myself, but it is possible to take the red pill upon the realization of your ignorance.

Lessons learned: don't wait until it's too late to take the red pill. Be the alpha - male you're meant to be.