I’ve got problems

I've got problems. Okay, that was redundant and perhaps annoyingly unoriginal, but it bears repeating. I've got problems I don't know how to solve. They've been nagging at me, like stray, errant strands of hair that tickle my bare back and I can never quite get a hold of them. Or like when I walk into a spiderweb at night (which happens more times than I'd like to admit) and I keep grabbing at my face to get it off. Even if I do, there's always that creepy feeling something is clinging to me and I can't do anything about it.

1. Mistaking attention for affection. After 20 odd years, I have yet to cleanly distinguish the two. Though they are not necessarily mutually exclusive, it'd be rather nice to know someone's being nice just to be nice, versus when he's being nice because he can see being nice to me for a long time coming.

2. Knowing when things have run their course. I hate relationship limbo. Or any kind of limbo, really, including the asinine party activity dressed up like an ice-breaker, when in reality everyone cheats a little and actually I'm really good at it. Whether I keep my stead for a little while longer or cut my losses, there's a price for either and both.

3. Doing what is good for me. I suppose this ties in with 1 and 2, but like most problems, it bears repeating (now).