Thank you both. Actually, Emotionally, my best relationships (though ultimate failures) ended up being with men who were friends first. Very good point I hadn't fully thought through as much... Thank you!

Gray, thank you for sharing. I think you're very right. Unfortunately, I was involved with someone who sort of "preyed" on my vulnerability once, and I appreciate that you've been able to verbalize this kind of experience--as it's helped me put some words into how I was manipulated in this situation... In sum, I see what you mean about healing first. I didn't really think about dating and potentially ending up in an unfortunate situation again considering the pain I've already been experiencing. With all this in mind, I too would rather give up dating for awhile. Definitely good reason to support this form of abstinence.

Thank you all. I have been feeling a bit better these days by realizing that he's not worth my time considering all this pain. While I still feel numb, I've been trying to self-care a bit more. I even gave my hair a different shade by dying it. Just one example of the self-care. I'm still working with my T right now. My T is gift and a blessing, much like all of you and the PC forum. I really hope to dive deeper into the self-care and healing process instead of resorting back to dating, which is certainly a change for me...