Shirknado

My girlfriend has been feeling neglected and keeps worrying that I'm mad at her. I love her, but I have big business problems now, and I don't want to burden her with them. Also, since we have a good thing, doesn't it make sense to focus on the stuff that's a mess?

--Startup Guy

Unfortunately, it isn't possible to outsource your relationship to some guy in the Philippines: "Please stay on the line. Your feelings are very important to us..." Men and women tend to deal with crisis in different ways. Women manage their emotions by expressing them; men just hope theirs will go away. Evolutionary psychologists Leda Cosmides and John Tooby explain that men evolved to be the defenders of the species, and in battle, it would have put them at a disadvantage to show their feelings -- especially those reflecting vulnerability, like "Yikes, I'm totally out of my league!" Being predisposed to bury your feelings in the backyard doesn't mean you should -- assuming you don't want your next startup to be a new relationship. This isn't to say you need to blather on about everything, Oprah's-couch style. You just need to share the bad as well as the good, even just by texting, "tough day, babe." You might even put reminders on your phone to send brief sweet messages a few times daily. Maybe that seems dumb and unromantic. What's dumber and more unromantic is adding breakup problems to your business problems because you didn't put in 46 seconds a day telling a woman that she matters. Sure, misery reportedly "loves company," but let's not be hasty in filling the flower vases and putting out the good towels.