Last week’s deadly combination of the celebration of Valentine’s Day and study of Jane Austen’s "Sense and Sensibility" in one of my literature classes (literature does always seem to reflect real life scenarios), has left me to reflect on being a hopeless romantic. If you are unfamiliar with the novel, I’ll give you a short synopsis (or feel free to watch the film adaptation on your own time — it’s quite good). There are two sisters that are essential, characterized as “sense” and “sensibility.”

Elinor (sense) and Marianne (sensibility) are in a constant battle of separating the romantic side of themselves, with their rational side. Similar to the novel, I find myself — the hopeless romantic- battling with my “sense side” (or the rational voice of my own sis) telling me to not always blindly follow my heart and the idea of love.

The romance novels, John Mayer songs, and even idolizing the idea of love can leave a hopeless romantic wondering if love is really a hope to hold onto. Love is a feeling that is unexplainable. A lot of parts of life are mediocre, but love should never be one of them. Maybe that is what leaves us hopeful or perhaps us hopeless romantics just need to accept the fact that we are just hopeless daydreamers, who idolize the idea of love too intensely. Whatever the case might be, here is 5 dilemmas that every hopeless romantic’s rational and irrational side may face, as told by "Sense and Sensibility."

1. When someone says something meaningful to you it sticks with you forever.

Sensibility Says: Your hopeless romantic side replays the moment over and over again. You remember the words, the way the light reflected in his eyes, the song playing and everything about the moment are eternally engraved in your mind. A simple sentence is stuck with you forever; it doesn’t matter if the person goes away, the moment never does.

Sense Says: Girl, snap out of it. He probably got that line from some pertinacious independent film. Lord knows he ain’t that original.

2. The atmosphere is everything

Sensibility Says: “Um do you mind putting on some music” or “that lighting could be dimmed” all are thoughts that go through your little hopeless romantic mind. It’s called setting the mood. Don’t have a playlist? Well, I have a few on my Spotify prepared, so take your pick, my friend.

Sense Says: Alright, you’re being weird. Just turn on a stupid Netflix show and stop talking so much.

3. Online dating makes you lose your hope in humanity

Sensibility Says: When your best friend talks you into downloading a bumble for an hour after a few glasses of wine during The Bachelor, your hopeless romantic side makes you realize you’ll be forever alone. First, how am I supposed to message a stranger first when I get adrenaline rush from just contributing to class discussions? Also, I am still holding on to the hope of being in the right place, at the right time and meeting the person I click with – in person.

Sense Says: You’re right, you can’t use this app, you don’t have the balls. The success stories from these apps are rare. Those girls are lucky. Luck doesn’t come easily for you, probably because you opened an umbrella inside three years ago today. So, let’s do ourselves a favor, delete the app and move on.

4. You wear your heart on your sleeve

Sensibility Says: You give your heart way too easily. You suck at casually dating, so if you connect with a person you want to pursue, your affection comes easily. You want to drive around until 3 a.m. even though I got an 8 a.m.? You got it. Hungry for some banana bread? I got the perfect recipe. Your favorite band is coming to town? I may have an extra ticket. You confide in people too soon, so your emotions take a toll whenever you’re in love.

Sense Says: Don’t fall so soon, you’ll fall straight on your face, right on the highway and your heart will get run over by a semi-truck. The good news? Girl, you are great during the aftermath and picking up the pieces after things fall to shit. You may take you a while to move on and date again, but independence is your thing because apparently wearing your heart on your sleeve is the recipe for disaster.

5. You invest too intensely in all aspects

Sensibility Says: Fictional characters on shows and in books are real-life romances in your eyes. You know when characters are meant to be together and you invent whole heartily in their relationship. You didn’t just jump on the bandwagon for the whole “Team Edward” thing. Please, Jacob didn’t stand a chance

Sense Says: Fictional characters’ romances will set your heart up for disaster. This isn’t real life. They aren’t real. Nothing about their love is real. Get out there and mingle, be single and stop wasting time reading and daydreaming over great loves in books and movies.

Hopeless romantics hopelessly love the idea of love. We are daydreamers and thoroughly believe in the concept of soulmates. While their blindness is a stretch for practical people; yet, there is no use of changing the way hopeless romantics are. For myself, perhaps eventually I will come to my senses, but until then I at least have a few gal pals to keep me grounded. "All the broken hearts in the world still beat," as Ingrid Michaelson once sung, so I still can’t help believing that my path will cross with the right person, at the right time, and I'll get my happy ending.