With everything going on in the United States right now involving women's rights, it's an applicable time to talk about women in general. In many ways, women do not have equality with men, but we all have the opportunity to be confident and independent.

This day and age, relationships are portrayed in the media as taking marvelous trips together or falling in love on the beach or getting every pair of shoes that Nike has to offer; basically, just one another spending excess amounts of money on each other to make each other happy. Relationships are centered around the amount of money your boyfriend or girlfriend spends on you and the gifts you receive. The pictures and videos that "sum up relationships" are of couples jumping out of airplanes together, road tripping together in their perfect van with a bed placed perfectly with candles around the side, or even spending a week in Dubai together. This is what every girl/woman is fantasizing over.

Being a hopeless romantic, it's easy to fall head over heels with the idea of love and relationships, but what no one realizes is the idea and picture you've created in your mind is not always how things turn out. For women especially, it's easy to scroll through pictures of other couples having the time of their lives and envy them. It's easy to tell yourself that one day you'll have that too. It's easy to tell yourself that the person you're with right now will be your forever because you're ready to start your fantasized relationship. All of these things are easy to convince yourself, but just because it's easy doesn't mean it's right.

What most people don't know is that before you can be in love with someone else, you have to be in love with yourself. Having confidence in yourself, whether that's confidence in the way you look or the way you dress, or if it's having confidence in what you say, or having confidence what you do no matter the circumstances, is the first step to your fantasy relationship. The next step is the ability to be independent; to not depend on someone else for your happiness and love. Having self-love brings out the best in someone and allows them to be joyful and full of life.

With the world around us telling us we aren't equal and degrading us and the media-portrayed relationships, it's holding us back. It's restricting women from being themselves and allowing their confidence and independence to shine through.

Even though these ideas for relationships are fantasized and seem nearly impossible to achieve, finding your significant other and doing everything you've dreamt of doing with them is possible. As long as you learn to love yourself before you can love someone else.