This summer was a summer full of love, tears, and life lessons. I had the best and worst times of my life, and I learned so much about myself in the process. But before I continue any further into this story, let me catch you up on my so-called love life:
The summer of 2016 was the summer I fell for the first boy I ever loved. We had the time of our lives doing things that young people in love do. He was my everything, and I was his. But after some time, differences wedged their way between us and we went our separate ways.
I pined over him for the next year, wondering what we would have become if we hadn't separated. To my surprise, he was thinking the same thing. That is how I have found myself where I am now: the summer of 2018. Another summer whirlwind with the first boy I have ever loved. For a while, we were extremely happy because being apart from each other had a significant toll on each of us. However, after just a few weeks, we realized that we had made a big mistake. Once again, differences wedged between us. Now, these differences were different from the ones we encountered two summers ago, but ultimately, we ended up separating again. Despite the heartache, I am glad that I had this experience to learn from.
We Had Become Different People in More Than Ways Than One
Spending a year apart from each other had a much bigger impact than we could have expected. When we got back together, I expected him to be the same boy I had fallen for, and he expected the same from me. However, in that year alone, we both grew and developed as people, and after getting back together, we were not prepared for each other's new personalities. I fell in love with the boy from the summer of 2016, not the one from 2018. And that is okay, people change. In our case, the changes were just too extravagant for both of us.
The Difference Between Like and Love
The difference between liking and loving someone is you like someone because of certain qualities, but you love someone despite of certain qualities. Although I liked many things about him, I could not accept some new qualities he had developed, and he could not accept some of mine. This is when we realized that our love had expired. We both realized that separating for good was the best plan for both of us.
What I Learned About Love
- You don't need someone to love in order to be successful, but you do need someone to share your successes with.
- It is okay to give relationships a second chance and still fail. This is how you know you did everything possible to try to make it work.
- The person you think is your everything may not be your everything forever, and that is okay too. People change, and sometimes it is for the better.
The End of A Love Story
My experiences this summer have taught me to love myself before I love anyone else, and when it comes to loving others, I should always give it everything I have. Through good and bad experiences, I realized the boy I thought to be the love of my life was just a boy who would always hold a piece of my heart. Overall, I am glad that I had this experience to learn from and I am glad everything turned out the way that it did.
