Feelings are always confusing, complicated and never easy. You can't lie about how you feel, no matter how you try to avoid it.

Many of us, including myself, avoid these feelings like the plague. We run away from them and try to make ourselves appear as unaffected as possible. We don't want to give anyone a chance to cross the line or break down our walls.

Walls which we built to protect ourselves.

The moment we catch feelings for someone, the first thing in our mind is to escape. We want to run away from them before they have the chance to be in our lives and potentially hurt us in the worst possible ways.

This is perhaps the reason why most people are so afraid of the idea of love. Because this is definitely the case for me.

As a matter of fact, love isn't supposed to hurt. The source of our miseries is the very person you're with during that period of time. The person whom you thought would never hurt you. It took me but I'm glad that I finally realized it.

However, it is undeniable that we may still have feelings for them from time to time. When you did fall hard, you gave it your all and that is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. I have certainly been there, and I am sure that you have been there before too.

We all have encountered people who put our hearts on their sleeves for decoration, for their personal entertainment. Each time they do something remotely hurtful, we shrug it off. To finish it up, we even help them to create excuses, in order to make them seem a little more honorable.

They didn't mean it. They won't do it again. And then you know what, it does.

Eventually, we put the blame on ourselves. We blame ourselves for being genuine and authentic when they clearly don't deserve any of it. We blame ourselves for giving them the time of the day. Last but not least, we blame ourselves for having feelings for them despite the emotional damage.

Well, having feelings for someone and loving them are two completely different issues. When you love someone, it's not too difficult to accept their flaws. It just comes naturally like an entire package.

Love is always a choice and there is no capacity for selfishness.

Unfortunately, there is no formula or strategy you can play to avoid getting your heart broken. We will all continue to fall. In our own respective ways.