About eight months ago, I broke up with my long-term boyfriend. At that point in my life, I didn't have any idea of who I really was. There was a lot I didn't know about, well, life. In past relationships, I feel as if I held back a lot about myself. Not that I'm blaming anyone, but for some reason I wasn't fully capable of being me yet.
Nothing; especially no one, should hinder any of your life decisions. Speaking from experience, it is very easy to become wrapped up in your relationship, where you let opportunities pass by. And after dating someone for so long, I was ready to discover and pursue my passions. You know? Take some time to figure out my direction and work on who I wanted to be.
Now a bit of time has passed since the break-up, where I feel like I can say that I am more of myself than I have ever been. Being single has taught me how to focus on myself and how to foster my own strength. No one else can teach you how to have that. I feel empowered! Especially, knowing that I can handle the toughest situations on my own.
I recently started dating someone and we went from zero to a hundred real quick. Like really quick. at first, I was absolutely terrified. I was concerned that I wasn't ready and things were moving too fast. I had a guy who wanted to hang out with me the day after our first date. What could drive a person to want to spend time with me so quickly?
And yet, I found myself feeling exactly the same way. I was ecstatic when he asked me to hang out again. This may sound cliche, but we had such a strong, instantaneous connection that it felt natural to hang out the next day. Our first date had been spontaneous and fun, but comfortable too. It all made sense.
A month into dating, we became exclusive. Not necessarily girlfriend-boyfriend exclusive, but I knew it was something I wanted, something that made me happy, but because of what everyone says about moving on too fast, I felt like it was wrong. Was it because I had my mind set on being the ultimate single girl? Honestly, I don't have an answer to that.
I realized something, though. Why worry about it? I took the time to figure out more about myself and I was genuinely happy. If something is good, you have to let it be good. Say you have the greatest slice of cheesecake in the world sitting in front of you. The perfect layer of graham cracker crust, and the raspberry sauce glistening as it falls off the sides. Are you going to stare at this slice of cheesecake for an hour before deciding that it is worth eating? HA, NOPE. I feel the same about relationships - if it is good, why wait months for confirmation that it is, in fact, really good?
