How an Indoors Girl Can Successfully Date an Outdoors Man

Consider this scenario: You’re out for the evening with a group of friends and you meet the most gorgeous man you’ve ever laid eyes on. He offers to buy you a drink and you accept, happily. As the night goes on, you and this man talk about everything.

Now, he does say that he’s more of an outdoors type of guy, but you assume that means he likes long walks on the beach and picnics in the park. You assume this because that’s YOUR idea of enjoying the great outdoors. It still doesn’t sink in when he picks you up for your first date in a jeep. You just think it’s kind of cute and different.

For whatever reason, the conversation doesn’t ever get down to the specifics of what he means by being an outdoors man. So when he asks you to go away with him for the weekend, you’re thinking a nice hotel with room service, or a romantic little bed and breakfast somewhere. What HE means is a weekend of primitive camping at his favorite spot in the closest national forest. You really should have thought better of it before telling him to just “surprise” you with the location.

There are many issues involved because among other things, you’re afraid of bugs and snakes, you LIKE to bathe and you don’t pee in the bushes. Granted, this is something you should have been forthcoming about in the beginning but who knew it was going to be a problem? Of course, NOW, you really like this guy and don’t want to mess things up. So what do you do?

It’s a bit late for an open and honest talk about how you feel regarding the Great Outdoors, but it still has to be done. Be honest about your fear of bugs and snakes. Also, you’ve got to tell him that showers and bathrooms are at the top of your list when staying somewhere. Impress upon him that you never took survivalist training and never wanted to.

If you explain all of this to him in the right way, he may not get back in his cool jeep and go home. Instead, he may find it challenging to teach you everything he knows about having fun outdoors. You may even be able to talk him into starting you out in a less intensely isolated environment. If he can compromise on at least camping within walking distance of a bathroom, that’s a start. In fact, you may even find that sleeping in a tent will be fun.

Once you get in the swing of your initiation into the wild, it’s only fair that he compromises and agrees to do the hotel and/or bed and breakfast with you, too. Life is all about compromising, and if you and your outdoors man can do that, you may each find that new experiences can be just as much fun as the tried and true ones.