I love a good love story.
In fact, I love anything genuine, simple and unique. If it can put a smile on my face, my day is made. It's really not too hard to make me happy. From a good movie or book, to a good joke - smiling comes easy to me.
When it comes to the subject of love, however, I'm not so easily pleased. I don't exactly have a checklist for the perfect guy, but I do have ideals and standards that I refuse to lower for anyone. Because of this, I'm thought of as in-experienced, naïve and a victim of bad rom-coms.
With these misconceptions comes a lot of mislabeling. My ideas of what I want from a relationship did not come from watching movies, but from my own life.
Here are 11 things that cynical, hopeless romantics can relate to:
1. Being a romantic stuck in a hook-up culture is a special kind of hell.
Hook-up culture is the bane of my existence. Everything is casual now-a-days and nobody seems to care.
2. As much as you want a genuine, old-fashioned kind of love, you know this world has little room for that ideal.
Is it really too much to ask for John Cusack and a boombox?
3. The idea of love is more appealing to you than an actual relationship.
I just want to meet my person, but every time a guy shows interest, I run the other way.
4. People either think you hate love or are obsessed with it.
Talk about annoying! We are 3 dimensional human beings, capable of more than one feeling.
5. Sometimes you're Chandler Bing, hopelessly desperate for love...
When I'm in this phase, I tend to make it worse by watching terribly cliche rom-coms.
6. ...And sometimes you're Emma from "No Strings Attached."
Yet, when I enter this 'I don't have nor do I care about feelings' phase, I love my comedies and Marvel movies. If someone could just remove my amygdala, that'd be great.
7. Rom-Coms make you cringe, but there's a part of you that still hopes they're true.
Now, I'm not asking for over-the-top, white-knight kind of nonsense. I want the kind of love that is lasting, pure and fun. I want something that isn't routine or droll, but I don't need anything crazy either.
8. You don't understand why people make the decisions they do.
In my favorite movie, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Paul Rudd told Charlie, "I guess we accept the love we think we deserve." I know I deserve better, even when I don't feel like I do. Therefore, I wait.
9. They say, "it will happen if you stop looking," but you've never really looked...
...and yet, I'm still single.
10. You know that you are your other half, but you wouldn't mind having a partner-in-crime.
By no means do I believe that finding a guy will "complete me." That's just another lie that rom-coms feed us. However, finding a partner-in-crime to join me on this adventure called life would be amazing. I may like my alone time, but I don't want to be lonely.
11. Maybe you want the fairy tale, but you're also okay with not having a significant other.
There have been times I've gotten insecure about the fact that I've never dated (much less had a boyfriend), but for the most part, I don't bother looking. There's so much more to do in life than worry about romance.
