Is monkey branching considered cheating? Are there ways you can find out if your girlfriend is monkey branching?
What to do if you are in a monkey branching relationship?
There are so many questions about this new phenomenon and it occurs more often than we might think.
You might have asked yourself these questions one too many times, so welcome to a full guide on what monkey branching is, how to spot the early signs, and how you can deal with it.
What does monkey branching mean?
Jumping from one branch to another, just like a monkey. It’s when a woman is in a relationship already, but she keeps on giving her number to other people.
A friend of yours might have told you that she did it before you two met or that he even saw her giving out her number to some random man, even though she is in a relationship.
Monkey branching can be spotted from miles away if you know what to look for.
Your girlfriend is seeing other men or flirting with other men, for goodness’ sake, it’s not like she can hide something this big from you.
Monkey branching can also be seen as someone lying about their relationship status in order to attract other people.
They do this in case their current relationship ends soon, so that they have a backup right away. And yes. It can be seen as a rebound relationship too.
Personality traits of someone who’s monkey branching
Someone who’s monkey branching must be a very different species to have such little respect for themselves and their partner.
People who do this are able to hide their true personality and can manipulate you into thinking that they’re the sweetest person ever.
That is their evil power. There are way more characteristics of someone like this, because they’ve been able to get away with it for so long already.
1. She’s moving too fast
You just met her in a bar or coffee shop, you thought she was cute and started up a conversation with her.
She’s already dropping you hints that she might be interested and ends up giving you her number without much effort.
Of course, not every girl who gives you her number when you meet her is monkey branching, but moving too quickly in your relationship means that after your first date, she’s already waiting for you to make it official.
2. She has low self-esteem
She might try to hide it, but her low self-esteem can be seen very clearly after just a few conversations with her.
Low self-esteem is the leading cause of the phenomenon of monkey branching.
She is looking for someone to tell her how beautiful she is and that she is needed. When one person isn’t enough, she moves on to the next.
Her need for validation and comfort is beyond the point of rationality and she can only find it in someone else.
She is not able to give herself the love she needs to be happy and searches for it somewhere else, which leads to a scrapyard of broken hearts.
3. She doesn’t have healthy boundaries
Boundaries are there to help us decide where our responsibility begins and ends and they are also there to provide us with a moral compass.
Someone who’s monkey branching obviously isn’t able to set healthy boundaries.
She doesn’t respect herself enough and ends up disrespecting everyone around her.
4. She seeks perfection
After you spend some time with her, you might come across more fights than is necessary.
She’s always mad at you for some reason and always tells you about things that you could do to improve your relationship.
It doesn’t matter how much effort you put into your relationship, she never seems to be satisfied.
She is obsessed with the way men treat her when they first meet her so she wants you to be like that all the time.
How to tell if she’s monkey branching you?
Now that we have explained some of the personality characteristics of this type of person, it’s time to explain the signs and how to tell if she’s actually monkey branching you.
A large part of these signs are very subtle. She has had a long time to perfect her craft and you might not be able to catch on to them right away.
That’s why it’s important to know what you’re looking for because you might seem like an overprotective boyfriend if you question her right away.
1. She’s still using dating apps
You might have found out through a friend who matched with her on a dating app or through seeing it yourself.
She is keeping her accounts on dating apps active to make sure that she has another option.
It’s so easy to text someone on a dating app and continue pretending like you’re single, because no one would question you.
Even if she says that she doesn’t use them anymore, having active dating app accounts when she’s with you is a clear sign of something happening in your relationship.
She might be cheating on you already or at least keep looking for a rebound in case you two break up. She might just be looking for validation. Who knows?
2. She spends a lot of time on her phone
Dating apps aren’t the only way to message a potential partner. There are so many messaging apps out there that it’s become a struggle to pick just one.
If you see her on her phone more often than not, she might be responding to thirst traps and messages from men who give her validation.
Monkey branching might also explain why she has been posting so many pictures recently.
None of them are that innocent, are they? Is she using her platform to post thirst traps and there is not a single photo of you two to be found anywhere?
3. She has a long list of ex-lovers
Because of the fact that she has constantly tried to find the ‘perfect’ man, her prince on a white horse, she has accumulated a long list of ex-lovers.
What does this say about her? This means that she doesn’t put enough time or effort into meeting a person before she starts a relationship with them.
She moves into a relationship too quickly, because she knows that there will be someone waiting for her when it ends.
These relationships she had didn’t last long and when you ask her what went wrong, her only answer is that it didn’t work out.
4. Changes in affection and availability
At the beginning of the relationship, or when you first started seeing each other, she was all over you.
She seemed like the most amazing girlfriend, someone who enjoyed making you happy just as much as you enjoyed making her happy.
It was always the little ways that she showed you affection that led you to believe that she was actually serious about this relationship.
A very clear sign of her monkey branching you is a sudden lack of the same attention she was giving you at the beginning.
She might already have a rebound ready.
5. She hides things from you
This issue isn’t that easy to spot right away.
The signs that she’s hiding something from you can be very subtle; for example, if she’s hiding her phone from you, if she doesn’t let you know when she’ll be home or whom she’s gone out with.
From one moment to the next, the list of the things she’s hiding just gets longer the more attention you pay to them.
The clearest sign that she’s hiding something is if she doesn’t want you to meet her friends and whenever you ask her why, she has a different excuse and never seems to consider how important it might be to you.
For all you know, one of her ‘friends’ might be another ‘branch’.
6. You constantly catch her flirting
Have you ever caught her giving some random dude a flirty look across the room? You might have even caught her obviously flirting with someone.
This is a huge problem; first of all, because it destroys the trust you have in someone and then also because it’s a sign she’s monkey branching.
When you ask her about it, she probably denies it, saying that you’re overanalyzing things or that you should trust her more but how are you supposed to trust someone who is constantly flirting?
7. She gaslights you
This is where things get dangerous. Gaslighting is a form of manipulation where the victim can feel like they’re actually losing their mind.
Whenever you call her out on her behavior, she denies it in the weirdest ways ever.
Let’s use her flirting for example; she says that she wasn’t flirting and that you were just imagining things.
This is a tactic used by narcissists and it manipulates the victim into thinking that it’s their fault for assuming things.
You start to question what you’ve seen with your own two eyes.
This seems like an exaggeration right now, but believe me when I tell you that this is a serious problem.
Victims of gaslighting heal from this type of manipulation very slowly and it’s very hard to gather your sanity back.
Please don’t underestimate this. If you see her doing something ‘suspicious’, something that looks like monkey branching, call her out on it.
You did see her giving her number to that random dude. Don’t question what you saw with your own two eyes.
8. She doesn’t want to meet the people who are important to you
For someone who’s actually monkey branching, meeting your family and friends is a huge step they are not ready to take.
Meeting the important people in your life means that you two are taking this relationship a step further.
The relationship is becoming very serious and that just isn’t working for her.
You should be understanding if someone doesn’t want to meet your family right at the beginning of a relationship, as they simply aren’t ready, but your friends should be a completely different story.
She should be able to meet them at any stage of your relationship.
You want to meet her friends too, right? It’s the best way to get to know your partner. You can see them in a new light and become a part of their world.
She doesn’t want that if she’s actually monkey branching you.
She doesn’t want the relationship to last too long, so why would she make you a part of it by meeting your friends?
What if she was with a friend of yours already? That might be a problem as well.
9. She spends a lot of time out without you
Let’s get something out of the way. If you’re just jealous that your girlfriend is going out with her friends, then the problem is with you.
But! If she’s constantly going out without you and being very secretive about where she was and with whom, then the problem is her.
Of course, you can’t trust someone who doesn’t even want to tell you where they’ve been. She might even go as far as to lie to you about where she’s been so you get very worried when you actually find out the truth.
Is she always out with her friends and she never invites you to join them? Is she always finding excuses for why you two can’t go out on dates?
Yeah, the possibility that she’s monkey branching is quite huge.
10. She cares too much about her physical appearance
We all care about whether we look good or not and she can wear whatever she thinks is appropriate.
The problem starts when she cares more about what she looks like around other people than around you.
Of course, it’s great when you feel comfortable enough around someone to wear whatever you want.
All of us love to lounge around in leggings and a hoodie. But when you go out, she doesn’t put in as much effort into looking good as she did before.
When she goes out with her friends does she always looks like a million dollars?
The chances that she’s doing that because she’s monkey branching aren’t that low.
11. She projects her own insecurities on to you
It’s hard to be happy in a relationship if there are many insecurities present.
If your partner is monkey branching, they are very insecure and not able to see their own worth, so they might start projecting their own insecurities on to you.
Projecting comes in the form of accusations like: “You were flirting!” “You deserve someone better,” “It’s all your fault!”
“I will never be good enough for you.” It sounds like you have to defend yourself and your relationship, but in reality, it’s not your fault.
Can a monkey branching relationship work?
No. Monkey branching relationships don’t work. You can’t trust a person who’s monkey branching.
They are constantly looking for better options and they will leave you when a better opportunity arrives.
If you’re in this type of relationship, you will be miserable. It starts off with a lot of attraction from both sides and it seems like true chemistry.
The truth is that she’s just used to this. This is her game and she’s the best player.
You can’t change her.
I know that it seems like the best option, to stick around long enough until she sees that you are the one she actually wants.
Believe me when I tell you that it won’t happen. The chances of that are slim to none.
Don’t break your own heart by sticking around someone who doesn’t care enough about you.
The very moment you realize that she’s monkey branching, please leave.
You deserve better than someone who doesn’t respect you or themselves enough to commit to one person.
She won’t stop looking for someone who gives her more attention and it doesn’t depend on how much attention you give her.
She will always be looking for more.
Do monkey branchers regret it?
The answer to this question really depends on the person. Some women never learn from their mistakes.
They simply aren’t able to find the validation they need in themselves and so they continue to find it in other people.
This is what happens when you don’t love yourself enough so unless she finds everything she needs in herself instead of waiting for a man to love her, she won’t change.
Someone who is monkey branching doesn’t regret it because they’re too busy looking for a new branch.
She keeps on flirting with men, she keeps on finding someone new all the time, and the fact that they fall for her charisma just motivates her to continue.
How to deal with monkey branching and can you prevent it?
They are just a couple of ways you can deal with this, but it really depends on the person.
Talk it out but don’t force it!
You are not responsible for how someone else feels about themselves, all you can do is create a space where they can get to know you and love you.
If she still refuses to stop flirting and giving her number out like she’s single, there isn’t much you can do.
It’s not your responsibility. If you want a monogamous relationship and she is not giving you what you want and need, then you can’t change that.
You shouldn’t want to change that.
Just leave.
Leaving before she’s able to find a rebound is what will shock her the most.
She isn’t ready to move on from you yet and you are throwing her off her game.
You can’t change her but you can show her that you are not someone she can play with that easily.
You are worthy of more than someone who can’t stay loyal for the sake of your relationship.
Monkey branching is cheating!
If you think differently, you are mistaken. There is no such thing as innocent flirting or texting. It’s all done with intent.
She has her own agenda and goes for it. Don’t try to work this through and forgive her, as she doesn’t deserve that.
Should you give someone who’s monkey branching another chance?
No. Absolutely not. The only exception is if she is willing to talk things through with you until you’re sure that she’s changed.
You can’t really be sure until you see the way she acts around other people, right?
I think in the end, the decision is up to you. You are the one who’s going to be in a relationship with her again.
You are the one who’s giving her a second chance and putting your heart on the line.
If you think that she’s actually worth it, if you think she has changed, go for it. Who am I to tell you otherwise?
Conclusion about monkey branching
In conclusion, someone who is monkey branching is a very insecure person and it’s not your responsibility to fix them.
She will go from one guy to the next, trying to find the one who will make her feel the best.
She will always fail, without a doubt. Because no one is perfect, you can’t expect someone to constantly be your perfect Prince Charming.
There isn’t a person out there who will be able to accommodate our every need and fulfill every single thing that we want.
Relationships are a lot of work and a woman who’s monkey branching simply isn’t ready to put in the work that’s needed.
For that same reason, you shouldn’t be with someone who’s not ready to commit to you fully.
As said before, you can see the signs very early on, you can call her out on it, but never let yourself be manipulated into thinking that there’s something wrong with you.
The moral of the story: Don’t let her use you as a branch!
Keep an eye open for women who are flirting, texting other men, and posting thirst traps even if they’re in a relationship.
It’s up to you whether you’re going to give her a shot or not.
I really do hope that you won’t. Because one man will never be enough for her.
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