I was pretty young when I got into my first serious relationship. We were each other's high school sweethearts and made it through college without any sort of speed bumps, and the couple that all of our friends referred to as "Mom and Dad." We were basically bulletproof. But you see that's the thing, no couple is bulletproof.

When you throw yourself into a serious relationship at such a young age, you don't really know exactly what you're getting into. You like to think that you know what love is, but you don't. You want to think that you know everything there is to know about making a relationship work, but you don't. You want to believe that this is the person that you're going to spend the rest of your life with, but again, you don't know that for certain.

My relationship was perfect until it wasn't. I woke up everyday feeling like the happiest girl in the world for a very, very long time. Then one day that feeling started to fade away. I started to feel like I was settling, but I wouldn't admit it to myself. I would tell myself every day how much I loved him and how amazing of a person he was, and why would I want to let that all go? But the truth was, I was distancing myself without even knowing it.

Now here I am, single for the first time in seven years. I still don't know what I'm doing, and there are days that I wonder if I made the right decision. To be fair, we both made the decision. We both felt the distance, and we wanted to put an end to it before we started to resent each other. Because although we lost that love we once had, we will always love and care about each other.

I don't want to jump into a new relationship right away, I don't think my heart could handle it, and to be honest, I really don't think it's what I need right now. As cliche as it sounds, I need this time for me. I need to learn how to be alone. That was always one of my biggest fears because for so long I wasn't alone. I always had someone there for me.

I'm excited for what the future is going to bring me. I'm ready to take on the world by myself, and see what I can do. Maybe one day I'll find that "one" person, or maybe me and my ex will find our way back to each other. I don't know. But what I do know for sure is that I'm having fun and living my life for me, not for anyone else.

I'm ready to have those single girl experiences that I never had, make a ton of mistakes and probably get my heart broken a million times. But this is what I know I need in my life. I need to make these mistakes so I can learn from them, so that I can be my best me.