You’re together and things are great, but there’s just one small issue: your flirty boyfriend‘s behavior is driving you nuts. He’s just so damn friendly to other women and it makes you paranoid and a little bit jealous. Before you freak out and go off the deep end, here’s how you could deal with the situation.
- Talk to him about it. This is always the number one piece of advice whenever there any kind of issue in a relationship. How can you think you’ll ever begin to solve it if you’re not talking to each other about it? Let him know that you’ve noticed his behavior and that it really bothers you and explain why you can’t deal with it. He may not even realize what he’s been doing and one conversation could be enough to nip this flirty boyfriend behavior in the bud.
- Figure out if his behavior is really inappropriate. A flirty boyfriend is annoying, for sure, but do you actually have to deal with any inappropriate behavior? Is he giving women his number, touching them, complimenting them, etc.? If his flirtatious behavior is limited to smiling a bit too much or being a little too chatty, you might just have to accept this as part of his behavior unless you want to look like a jealous psycho. If he’s always respectful of you and careful not to overstep bounds, it may not be a big deal.
- Look for other signs that he might be doing more than flirting. While flirtiness in and of itself isn’t necessarily a problem, it is if you believe it’s a prelude to something much worse like making out with other women or even sleeping with them. If your boyfriend is not only flirty but is also secretive with his phone, “busy” a lot more than usual and unable to hang out, or doing other shifty things, you need to deal with this ASAP.
- Stay calm. The last thing you want to do is lose your cool right off the bat, especially when your boyfriend’s behavior could be completely innocent. Even if he is overstepping boundaries, it won’t serve you to lose it and start freaking out on him. It won’t change his behavior and it certainly won’t make you feel any better. Stay calm, take a few deep breaths, and handle this—whatever “this” ends up being, even if it’s nothing—like the cool, calm, and collected adult you are.
- Trust him. At the end of the day, unless your flirty boyfriend has given you a reason not to trust him, you have no reason not to. Relationships are all about trusting one another not to do anything to hurt or betray the other person and to always have each other’s best interests at heart. That’s the deal you make when you get together. Honor it, and believe he will too.
