Anwar White explains why women who play small around men, showing only 20 to 40 percent of themselves, set relationships up to fail. A partner who never sees your full self in the first three to six months won't know who you actually are, and that weak foundation breaks later.
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One of the things that I see a lot with women is actually turning into someone else. When you are engaging with men, fine with your friends, you're fine with your family, you're fine at work, but when it comes to men, something changes. Ultimately, you start to play small. And when you're small, you're not being yourself. You're being 20, 40% of yourself, not 100%. It robs you of showing the world the amazingness of who you are, but it also robs the person that is trying to get to know you because they think that they know you, because you're only representing a small portion of yourself, the portion that you think they're going to like. What happens is that if you can get past that stage, that three to six month stage in your relationship, you're probably going to be good because you've seen all sides of your partner. But if you are showing this 20% side of yourself and thinking that that is going to do it, you're sadly mistaken. And this is one of the things that I'm seeing a lot with my clients.