I would define myself as a romantic, but I don’t mean “romantic” as in The Notebook. I mean that I love life and I love, love. I am extremely idealistic and sentimental. Some people may think I’m naive but I promise you that I’ve had my share of sobering experiences that could’ve brought me down. But they didn’t. I don’t think that a man is going to ride onto my college campus on a white horse and a bunch of roses and declare his love for me. Not only is that unrealistic, but it’s also very creepy. I don’t want that but I do want something real.
The struggle of being romantic in college is that college is one of the least-romantic places I have ever been in. People in college want to be free and have great experiences and be young and alive. I understand that, I’m also in my 20's. I just don’t understand why someone can’t be free and have great experiences and they can’t also be in a strong committed relationship. For me, being with one person isn’t boring or limiting. I think it would be a beautiful thing to experience all of those amazing things with the person that I want to spend a lot of time with, maybe the rest of my life with.
The other issue of being romantic in college is that college kids are sometimes just plain lazy, or their priorities are somewhere else. My parents met in college and as a kid I grew up hearing from a lot of people “You’ll meet your husband in college.” I find myself walking around campus thinking, “where the heck is he?”
I suppose that times have changed but I don’t understand why the idea of hooking up with someone with no strings attached is the ideal situation. I like having an emotional connection and a real connection. I understand that our generation is very driven and that a lot of us have a lot of amazing goals that we want to achieve, but I don’t think that being in a relationship should/would hold you back in anyway. Wouldn’t be to share that struggle and that achievement with someone else? I don’t think being in a relationship should hold anyone back, I think it should make those two people stronger.
I’ve always loved monogamy and being in love. I think people in college are afraid to feel deep emotions for another person; we’re all too afraid to get hurt. Without that hurt you can’t grow, without growth you can’t achieve.
The whole point of this written rant is to hopefully find one reader that might be on the edge of love. To that reader, I say this: be brave and take a chance. Love is a magical thing to experience and if you don’t put yourself out there, you might regret it for the rest of your life. Be young. Be in love. Be with someone who makes you happy and don’t think that monogamy means monotony because it doesn’t. Sharing experiences with someone you care about is so wonderful and way better than sharing special moments with people that you might not talk to again in a year or two.
If you thought about a certain someone while reading this post, I advise you contact him or her. It might be the best decision you ever make.
