This week I talk about what to do when you're dealing with someone who seems to ask you for a lot of favors.

And I explain what options are open to you when you are dealing with a tricky family member.

I'm Natalie Lou, a writer based in Southeast London who is dedicated to helping people to improve their emotional and relationship literacy.

Let's kick this off.

There was a time when talking about the future,

but someone who you're dating was considered to be the sacred territory

of somebody who is serious about you.

Particularly when it comes to men, society has taught us in the past that men don't like to talk about their feelings, that men are afraid

of commitment and that men don't like to talk about the future.

So if we have then met one of these species and they have been talking about the future and they have been appearing to talk about their feelings and they have even

been like making plans with us and talking about commitments we think wow this

person must be really serious about us. What many of us have

discovered through our encounters, not just with men but also with women, is that not everybody talks about the future when they're serious about you.

Some people hint and make direct statements and promises about the future as a way of getting what they want in the present.

One of my most frequently asked questions is, do future fakers do what they do intentionally?

Future faking was something that I wrote about five years ago.

It was off the back of so many stories of people who were completely confused after having what felt like this amazing romance with somebody,

where it felt as if they'd known the person forever, that despite reservations, that they'd just thrown themselves into it because this

person just seemed so crazy about them. They were spending so much time together, the

person was taking them around to look at new houses or introducing them to one or both of their parents.

They were talking about holidays.

They were hinting at plans.

...