Dear Ladies, Thank God for Men Who...

Below is a list of things that you should really appreciate if your man does. Here goes!

1. Finish work and are able to engage in a conversation with you. Most men are independent. We do not really like talking about our problems with other people, unless we are being forced into it, or when we really need to get something off our chest. Most men like the feeling that they can do it themselves; that they are not vulnerable; that they do not need to talk. Especially true after a long day at work, we are usually too tired to engage in a deep conversation with another human!

2. Do not compete with you! Men like to compete, while women like to be similar. Every female child wants to be like mommy and every male child wants to be taller than daddy, or stronger, or faster. We are wired to compete. When a woman makes a man feel secure of her love for him, he does not need to compete with anyone. He only needs to learn how to love his woman.

3. Cook. Men like having things being done for them. We love food, but many men, especially in the Middle East, do not know how to make scrambled eggs. But a man who cooks usually makes food that tastes like the meals you eat in the world’s top restaurants. Did you ever notice that some of the world’s top chefs are men? Ever wondered why?

4. Always have a smile on their face. Most men are focused. They’re not grumpy, no. On the contrary. They just can’t bother to smile as frequently just because they do not feel the need to act anything out. They need to be natural, that’s all. Men who smile a lot usually have to remind themselves to flex those facial muscles from time to time.

5. Wait for you to get dressed without shooting someone (it may be you, or himself!) We are efficient beings, and quite honestly, we have other things to do. Yes, yes, you are the most addictive part of our lives (if you’re smart enough!), but we do have other things to do. We want to be with you, we want to pamper you, we want to go out with you, and we want to show you off to the world. But until then, if we aren’t really doing anything together, we’d rather use this time to watch a game or have a burger.

6. Remember birthdays and anniversaries. We are not wired to remember birthdays and anniversaries, that’s all. We love our memories with you, we really do. We love memories, in general. But our love for memories is more nostalgic than it is fluffy. We do not want to go back to these times, or relive them; we want to make other memories of the same kind. We do not want to go back to the time when we were young with our friends on the beach; we want to go to the beach now and enjoy it just the same. So when it comes to events that are repeated every year, we only remember them to please you.

7. Groom; brush their teeth, comb their hair, shave, iron their clothes (or have them ironed by their mothers, since we are in the Middle East!) Yes, clean men like to be really sleek and clean. But I was surprised at the number of men who do not brush their teeth, for example. So I thought it would be a good idea to put it on the list of things to appreciate! I like having my clothes crisp and well ironed, but I don’t enjoy ironing. Same for shaving my beard.

8. Coach you how to do things, rather than do them for you. As I said before, we value efficiency very much. So it takes discipline from a man to help a lady do something, rather than just to do it for her. We are buddies; a man should not be superior.

9. Laugh when things go wrong; turn a sad situation into a happy one. Just as much as women like drama, men do not know how to react in dramatic situations. People who laugh when things are going wrong are definitely the best kind of people. At least when there’s a crisis, we might as well still enjoy ourselves.

10. Spend without making you feel like they’re holding anything back. This requires a very strategic way of thinking. Because no person in the world can actually buy everything his lady wants. The smart people know how to spend the money on her. Look, I’ll be completely honest: the worst thing in the world that a man can be, is cheap. The key is how to allocate resources so that the money stays longer and so that we can enjoy it longer, without you getting the feeling that we are holding anything back.

Before I go, I just wrote a list of ten things above that I do almost every day (to different degrees), but women regard as being natural. Just as they may have actually become part of the routine, we would still be happy if someone appreciated how good our nature has become. Wait for my next article on how keep a man from walking away. But take this tip until then: stop the drama!