A tragedy unfolds as he embarks on a path driven by a thirst for novelty. His experiences cause him to lose the innocence that once defined him.

He can have the outside attributes which will make him a catch, but the poisoned chalice is his ability to self-reflect on his actions rather than be a mindless sex rabbit.

Having gone through the spectrum of the good girl with a hidden lusty side to the crazy maniac throat goat, his sensitivity for the other gender ends up being diminished, and he has turned blasé to it.

It is a bit like watching the same favourite show over and over again. The novelty wears off, and then the question arises: "What is next?"

Should he hang up his cape and choose one of the different types you went for? Or should he satisfy himself with a life of bachelordom?

There is still some joy in benefitting from female energy, but he knows that women are more or less the same. The packaging changes, and so do some of the features.

However, the dilemma he faces is the same as that of women. Should he go for the so-called good and innocent girl or the one who caters to his dark side? Will she settle for "husband material" or keep herself with the forbidden fruits she enjoyed most of her 20s with?

It is as hard for women to find the middle ground as for men.

The "purity" of the good girl does not cater to him and does not resonate with some of the experiences he has gone through, and he wants to shield and protect her from it. She is essentially a child. He will not find the excitement there, but it will be more soothing for the soul.

Deep down, he also knows he will never be able to stay monogamous. So the question is, should he keep the good girl at home and wander around on the DL to cater to both his open self and his shadow self?

He knows very few can accommodate both. The girl who resonates with his darker self is also likelier to be his alter ego because of the shared experience and reference points that bond them.

He will notice that one side is more dominant when he examines himself. Does he resonate more with his open self, which is more wholesome and socially acceptable, or with his shadow self, which is more twisted and that very few see?

Depending on that answer, he will veer towards one type of girl more than the other.

However, one is more destructive to the soul than the other one.

This is where the crossroads of life start. Will he continue the path of degeneracy, or will he "settle down"? This will depend on his life goal. Does he want a family with a lovely homemaker, or does he prefer a life of freedom where he cannot be caged? Some players will fall into one category, some in the other.

The uncaged life does not mean he will chase skirts, but he cannot feel tied down to life obligations. He still desires freedom.

Another revelation he will encounter in his journey is that very rarely, if ever, are women actually into him. They just responded to what he did for them by associating good feelings with bad feelings he triggered in them. But he longed for his soul to be seen and loved rather than him being a conduit for what they sought to receive.

The strategies used to seduce women often came from an inability to genuinely be appreciated for who he was, so he learned the woman's psyche to use it to his benefit.

Where the next question is once the chase is done:

Does he continue this merry-go-round for the short-term physical pleasure and ego validation women provide him?

The most deadly seducing manoeuvre from a woman who a player enchants is for her to see through the games and tactics he employs. Where she can convince him she likes him for him and that all of the stuff he does is unnecessary.

As a player, he is blasé. He knows well from his years in the field and countless encounters that it is unlikely, but he deeply wants it to be true. He doesn't trust women's words, no matter how badly he wants them to be true.

The gift and the curse of knowledge are that it is often better to live in ignorance because, as his dark side, he fully knows everyone has one, whether discovered or not. If another woman had discovered it in the past, it would have opened Pandora's box.

Being fully accepted without judgment is the closest act of love he can imagine from a woman. He wants to be seen for himself, not for his charm. This is why he employs the same tactic on women: He wants them to reveal themselves to him fully. He can see them naked with their full clothes on.

He has done nothing but give, give, give without receiving much in return. He did previously find his return on investment until he did not anymore.

He has previously smelt bullshit from a mile away.

The only exception to the rule is when he lets himself be emotionally taken by a woman. Love without ulterior motives is the ultimate act of giving.

He has been parading that to avoid giving off the nice guy covert contract vibe, only to realise that he never or rarely received anything back that did not have an IOU, despite what he gave for all these years.

He also abhors the transactional nature of relationships while still low-key acting under the same logic to achieve his goals.

He will often fall for a woman who is good for him, but there is a buffer in the situation that prevents a potential real relationship.

It is not heartlessness; it is the full knowledge of how things will end after repeatedly seeing the same story unfold. There is a fear of things turning ugly.

A soul of being tired of being let down.

The Darkside is his strength and his weakness.

He cannot fully relinquish his innocence, as he already knows it won't be fulfilled despite having tried, but he can smell the sulfur from the girls who cater to his shadow self.

This leaves him with the third option of taking a step back and not seducing like he used to. He was not acting like his true self at the risk of never meeting eye to eye with the opposite gender, and he spent most of his time knowing her psychology and how to use it to his advantage better.

Whichever way is not the panacea. For it to be, the girl would have to be able to cater to both his open self and shadow self. Unfortunately, it is, in the vast majority of the cases, mutually exclusive.

He has to choose, fully aware that it means renouncing.

Something he just accepted.

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