I think we’ve all gotten to that point where we’re tired of a lot of relationships that lead to dead ends. The ones that are just something physical and not emotional. The ones that fade out with no explanation at all. The constant swiping and first dates and knowing that’s where it starts and ends. The ones with no connection and you just wonder what’s going on?
Is it dating today and a generation that fears commitment? Is it you because you’re so paranoid and burnt from the past you wouldn’t even know a good thing if you found it? Is it bad luck or is fate just not allowing it in the cards for you.
You feel like you are waiting for this person that only exists in your mind and between exes that come back and people slide into your DM like it’s no big deal and you just are trying to make sense of it all.
These standards you have, it seems very few can meet but you remember what it was like to settle. So you learned or try to. And try not to make mistakes or put your faith in the wrong people.
You test people and a lot of them fall short of your expectations. Sometimes you wonder are you asking too much? Then you remind yourself what you deserve.
You know what it’s like to overcompensate and in learning that, you learned the right relationships come down to someone meeting you halfway.
Part of you is a hopeless romantic while the other half of you is more guarded than you should be.
But when you get hurt and disappointed it’s just what happens. You look at everyone a little skeptical at first.
Half of you just wants the love and relationship and effort you’ve been trying so hard to give others and the other half of you wonders why are you trying so hard? You wonder if you’re even doing it right but it’s all you know.
It’s not an easy task to have a soft heart in a world that tries to make you cold and dark.
It’s also difficult when you love the way you do, sometimes it feels like you’re standing alone trying to make sense of why you are the way you are.
And people tell you someone will value that, yet all you’ve run into is people who take you for granted or used you or left.
You don’t think you’re hard to love but you wonder about it sometimes.
Maybe you value love and relationships too much you put it on a pedestal. But maybe it deserves to be there.
Because when you get it right it’s the best thing that can ever happen to someone. And that’s what you hold onto and hope for.
And to get to that point, you know it is a bit of a gamble and taking chances on people even if they turn out to be the wrong ones are worth it because with every wrong person and failed relationship means one step closer to one that isn’t.
You hold onto patience and faith even when you have nothing to believe in but an idea of someone you don’t even know exists.
Keep being that type of person. Because the people who believe in love and value it are the ones who get it even if it takes a little while to get there.
The longer you’ve been without something or someone the more you appreciate it when it finally comes.
By Kirsten Corley for ThoughtCatalog