When I fell for my ex-boyfriend, it took me a long time to really let him in and to fully love him. He was my first love and the first guy I ever really liked. I didn't always know how to act around him because he was the first guy that ever really gave me attention. I fell for him slowly, which was really weird because my other friends fell so fast for guys. I really enjoyed spending time with my ex and everything, it just took me time to really fall in love with him. When I did fall for him, I fell hard. After months of dating him, I got used to being my complete self around him. We both made plenty of mistakes in our relationship, but I definitely don't regret anything, because it taught me so much and made me the person I am today. I think the thing I loved the most about this relationship was how I fell in love with him slowly. Everything was slow-- we took our time and it was such a lovely thing. We almost went too slowly though, which is a part of why things didn't work out.

There was one guy after my ex that I fell for way faster than I did with my ex. I think it's because now I had experienced how to act and what a relationship was like so I wasn't as scared. The thing was I fell too fast with this guy. I wanted to know him and be with him so bad that I rushed everything and the guy stopped liking me. This was also a huge learning experience for me. I personally think that there isn't a problem with falling slowly or falling quickly, it's just the way you go about things with the person you're falling for. You can fall quickly for a person, but you can't rush things as fast as you're falling for them. You can fall slowly for a person, but you can't keep things too slow or the relationship won't go anywhere. You need to have a good balance in a relationship.

I don't regret my past relationships and crushes because they have taught me so much about how to love. They have taught me so much about myself and what all relationships (including friendships, family relationships, acquaintances) need to have in them to succeed. Relationships of any kind need to involve both people, not just one person. Don't put in way more effort than the other person does or they'll think that's how a relationship is supposed to be when it's not how it's supposed to be. Both people in a relationship, friendship, etc. need to put in effort and pursue each other. Love is a beautiful thing, don't rush it and don't slow it down too much. Let it flow the way it's meant to. God will take care of the rest.