I am someone who loves, love. When I see young couples walking and holding hands it makes me smile. When I see cute old couples eating together, I tear up. I jump up and down when people ask me for relationship advice. Everything about the whole idea of love, I love. Love to me is like the absolute best thing that this world has to offer.

However, oftentimes I feel as though I get caught up only in the love that comes from being in a relationship with someone. As my friends and family could tell you, I am very pro-relationship. I love everything about relationships and more importantly, I love being in them. Through these past years, I have been in and out of various relationships. The problem I started to realize with myself, was not with the relationships I was in, but rather it was that I was starting to focus my self-worth on whether I was in a relationship or not. When I was in a relationship, I was on the top of the world and thought I was worth a million bucks. When I was not in a relationship, I felt as though I was unloved or needed to seek belonging by entering a new relationship. In the end, I realized that I was never going to be fulfilled if this was the way I was living my life. I learned that love and self-worth do not simply come from being in a relationship and getting reassurance from a guy. Instead, I found true, unconditional love from the people who surrounded me every day.

Over this past year, I have been completely overwhelmed by the love and affection I have received from the girls who surround me in my sorority. At my weakest moments, there was always a shoulder to cry on. When I needed to talk, someone was always ready to go get Taco Mama with me or sit in my room for hours on end. When I was overwhelmed by my commitments, there were girls willing to drop whatever they were doing to help me out. When I was sick, there were multiple girls dropping off little goodies or letters for me. When I was going through a break-up, there were girls writing me encouraging notes or bringing me my favorite Ben & Jerry’s. I could not believe what I had been overlooking this whole time. Had I really had all this community of support this whole time? When I had time to truly focus on the girls who were in my life and who loved me unconditionally, I realized how blessed I was. These ladies helped show me that I was worth so much more than I had ever imagined. They brought out the best sides of me and helped me realize my own potential. They taught me more about myself than I had learned in my past 20 years of living. I found a never-ending supply of love that had been there this whole time.

I cannot express in words how thankful I am for the women in my sorority. My heart overflows with love for these beautiful ladies. They make every day brighter and they make my life happier. Now, the point of this article is not to say that love from a relationship is not important. If you have that love, and it is a good love, you hold on to that with everything you have because it can make you the happiest girl in the world. However, the same goes to say if you are not in a relationship and are still seeking that love, look to the love that comes from your friendships. That is a love that is true and should never be overshadowed. That is the kind of love that constantly surrounds you whether you know it or not. That is a love worth focusing on.