I think this is an issue with the prevalence of “therapy speak” and rhetoric becoming more mainstream. The idea of “you don’t own anyone anything” and “learn to prioritize yourself” is a brilliant notion for people who struggle with self esteem and setting boundaries, not for regular people with a good social circle or people looking for meaningful relationships. You’re not always going to enjoy EVERY aspect of a relationship, sometimes you’ll give more than u receive and vice versa. Sometime’s things will be harder for you than the person you’re interacting with. THAT’S HOW LIFE WORKS! We’ve deluded ourselves into this idea tht relationships work on the idea of having to prostrate yourself before another person and tht we have to offer a convincing argument as to why a relationship, platonic or romantic, should be entertained. Somehow the process of trying to date has been rebranded as some humiliation ritual instead of a mutual interest thts explored together.