When you’re young, everything is touch and go, stop and feel, live and learn, and a whole lot of moving on. You make friends, you leave friends, and you keep a few along the way. As you grow older, the one statement or excuse that sits in the back of your mind is always, “We’re young and we have the rest of our lives to figure this thing called life out.” What I have learned is that this is entirely not the case. I have too often seen the good go young. I fully believe in embracing what is in front of you and chasing whatever your heart desires in that very moment.
Most people spend their entire lives thinking they have more time and more chances to do whatever it is they are putting aside for “a later day.” For some, that later day doesn't ever come, or everyday becomes another excuse for not chasing what they desire. What I have learned from watching this reoccurring process is to jump for what could turn into an incredible opportunity, lean into what your heart is beating out of your chest about, and completely fall in love with who you are becoming. I have decided not everyone will accept you for who you are, but the ones who truly know you will love you for whoever you are. This world is constantly changing. I believe we as people should be too. Sitting stagnant isn't good practice; we weren't born to all be the same and do the same routine every day of our lives. There are far too many new adventures, friendships, and unexpected memories to be made along the way. This is where love begins to play a role. Around the age of 15, you have your heart broken and you think the world is going to stop turning. This becomes a love sick game until you're a senior in high school, and then you realize during your freshmen year of college that you probably won’t be standing at the alter with the person across from you at the dinner table. You are 18 and learning to love. You are not in love.
I believe in falling head over heals for whatever and whoever you’re investing your time in, because if you’re not, then you’re only dipping your feet in the water. Relationships can be bittersweet, beautiful disasters, lessons learned, and unbelievably time-consuming. Spending time with the one who is lighting up your world is completely understandable, but spending all of your time is not. You have friends, family, and many more important factors in your life, such as all of these and yourself. Once in awhile you need a night out with your girls, dinner with family, and a day to get lost in what only you know how to love and embrace. Dating is fun, exhilarating, exhausting, and important while growing up. It assists in finding who you are. It teaches you what you do and don’t want in the future and it helps you choose who you'll be with for the rest of your life. Although, I don’t believe in dating someone only to marry them. I believe in dating someone to learn everything about them. You’re given the chance to learn why they are who they are and the pieces underneath them they've never shown anyone before. You may not spend the rest of your life with them, but you are spending what could be your last minute right now. Make sure it's someone who, if they had to go to your funeral tomorrow, would be proud to say they were your last love. Find someone you are completely alike to or someone you would've never crossed paths with if it wasn't for this moment right now. Because for some odd reason, you did. That person is in your life right now for a reason, maybe for only a season, or what could be forever. Create a bond you will crave. Engulf yourself within not only the person but the feeling. That is something your heart will chase the rest of your life. If it doesn't last forever and you thought it was going to, know there’s thousands of reasons why it didn’t last.
I am an individual that believes in a crazy type of love and lives as if there is no better person in the world than the one standing in front of me. But I am also one that knows there is so much more in life than a boy or a girl that you may say goodbye to in six months or even six days. That’s how it can go. But for the ones that don’t, I encourage you to fully embrace the person you're investing all of your time into and learn about who they are trying to become. Love doesn't just teach us about who we are, but more about the people that make up our entire world. You're given the chance to see the under-layer of someone not everyone gets to see in a lifetime. Treat whoever you're loving as if they're the most essential part of your day, but know that in the end, you yourself are the most essential part of your entire life. Love turns to poison the minute you lay your happiness into someone else’s hands and start to care more about what they think than yourself. Stay true to who you are and learn to love who they are and why they love you like they do.
