We've all been there, from those initial cloud nine feelings to the not so warm and fuzzy ones, I'm talking about the stages of one-sided attraction.
1. Someone captures your attention
Literally, every day you walk past hundreds—if not thousands—of beautiful strangers. So as fate (and statistics) would have it, at least one of them is bound to catch your eye, and potentially, your heart. And so the infatuation begins...
2.You introduce yourself
As social rules dictate, in order to have a relationship, you must initiate one. While you may not have an arsenal of pick-up lines ready to drop on your target, you channel your inner Joey Tribbiani and shoot your shot.
3. Connections are made
GiphyA well-timed "how you doin?" can never go wrong. Once you've introduced yourself and broken the ice, you find that there's a lot you have in common; you're both fluent in sarcasm, you have the same capacity to binge-watch for hours on end, and you prefer Canes to Chick-Fil-A. It's a match made in heaven.
4. You start fantasizing
You start a streak on Snapchat, there are daily "good morning" texts, and you're making mental notes of song lyrics that would make great Instagram captions for pictures of the two of you. You know you're getting ahead of yourself, yet you can't stop.
5. Reality catches up to you
Inevitably, some aspect of reality that was factored out of your imaginary world to make the relationship plausible pops up in real life. Rather it's another person that's caught your would-be-SO's eye, lack of reciprocated feelings, or the dreaded "friend zone", sometimes a relationship just isn't in the cards. Now that your hopes have been dashed, you opt to begin the path to acceptance.
6. You rage
The first stop on the way to acceptance is irrational anger; you know that the other person was only yours in your head, but, like, that still counts for something.
7. You cry
The next step is to cleanse yourself of that misdirected anger. That's right, let it out, and make sure you keep yourself hydrated between the tears.
8. Your friends intervene
GiphyAt some point, the craziness has to be put to an end, and good friends will not hesitate to let you know "enough is enough". Don't be surprised when your best friend shows up at your door to force you out of your sweatpants and turn off the TV right as Allie is about to go back to Noah.
9. You remember who you are
GiphyAs nice as it would be to have a bae as we approach the holiday season, once you reconnect with yourself, all of the experiences for you to grow and make memories will leave no room for any disappointment in being single.
10. Do it all over again
GiphyThe beauty of youth—and life in general—is that we can make mistakes, meet new people, and learn something from our experience every single day. Don't be afraid to to put yourself out there, sometimes we get hurt, but when we try again we open ourselves to meet people who will make us forget our pains. So, even if you find yourself in the pitfalls of unrequited love, know it's a part of life and that it will pass.
