I spent my teenage years "sort of" dating. When I say "sort of", I mean I had boyfriends but not serious ones. I had boyfriends, but not ones who really cared about me.

I watched my friends in long-term relationships and just wondered. I wondered what it was like to actually be serious with someone. I wondered what it was like to have someone who really cared about you.

It took until my sophomore year of college to actually experience the things I always wondered about. I finally had a real relationship. Someone who loved me. Someone who really cared about me.

It was really great for two years. Then it kind of wasn't.

So it ended.

That was okay. Although it took me a little bit of time to realize that, my friends and family convinced me it was.

I learned. I learned a lot.

I learned what I needed to do better and what I was good at in regards to a relationship. I learned what I needed and what I didn't need.

I learned the type of person I wanted to be with and the type of person I didn't want to be with.

I learned a lot about myself. I learned from the mistakes I made. I learned from the mistakes he made.

I learned how to grow with another person. I learned how to be a better person.

I learned how to always support someone and how to accept someone's flaws.

But what I really learned is that everything isn't always what it seems.

Relationships are hard, but people always manage to make them look easy. What you see on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat are just pieces of days, weeks, months and even years.

You don't see the arguments, the tears, the laughs or the hardships.

You don't see the hard decisions or even the easy ones.

But the best lesson I learned from my first real relationship is you have to learn and you have to grow. You have to learn to understand what arguments aren't worth it. You have to learn when you're wrong.

You have to learn when to walk away.

But no matter what, you'll walk away with amazing memories, stories, and lessons learned.