Dear Skeptics,

Love is scary, the idea of finding a person to share your life with, even if it's just that a part of it is a terrifying idea. Even as a hopeless romantic, the idea of finding my "Prince Charming" is something that still seems a part of a fairytale. However, I believe that everyone does want to find that special someone, the Jim to their Pam, the Ben to their Leslie, the Prince Charming to their Cinderella, the Chuck to their Blair, even the Clyde to their Bonnie. Everybody wants someone to love and to love them, even the skeptics.

I've had many conversations with friends who are skeptical about love, trying to prove my case that feelings can't get shoved into a bottle and stuffed away in a closet. It's just not how feelings work. Over the many hours I've spent trying to convince them, I noticed that slowly but surely it was starting to work. Nearly three years later, I can confidently say I've tapped into about 10 percent of those feelings.

All of that work got me thinking, why are people skeptical of love? Many reasons arose, but the main factor is that they've built up a wall, even if it is subconscious. Walls are built to protect. I of all people know the importance of walls, but there comes a point in time where you've built your walls so tall and thick that you'd need Rapunzel's prince to come rescue you from your tower. Blocking yourself out from the world, from experiences and from chances to find that "right" person isn't helping anyone. You have to take chances in life.

I know that taking risks aren't easy. I know rejection hurts and nobody wants to feel that. So you're probably thinking, why should I take that risk of rejection? Well, wouldn't you rather have experienced chance and possible rejection and learned from it, opposed to never have given yourself the chance? I know that I don't regret any of the decisions I've made in the long run because I've learned from my experiences, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.

The fact of the matter is this, love isn't easy, but it's definitely worth it. The feeling of knowing you love somebody and they love you is a magical feeling. It may not happen to you overnight, but it will happen. Love is the closest thing that we have to magic because there's no way to precisely explain how love works it just does.

Love comes unexpectedly. There's not an app on your phone that can alert you when the love of your life is coming. Love isn't a planned thing; it just happens. As scary as the uncertainty is, it can also be exciting, the feeling of butterflies in your stomach, the elevation of your pulse, the undeniable sense of excitement, energy, and happiness wrapped into one gigantic knot. These are all things that I wouldn't trade for the world.

I'm going to be honest: love isn't black and white. It's just a huge gray area. It's a risk, but it's a risk that you have to take in life. You have to open your walls up just enough to peek outside and see that it's not as scary as it seems. You never know when the best thing in your life is going to pop up.

I don't know if I convinced you on love, but I hope I made you think about it a little bit more.

Sincerely,

A Girl Who Believes