I never understood why having a boyfriend was so important to people. Of course I understand the benefits and how it can contribute so many positive things into your life, but why should that be all you think about? By the time I turned 14, all of my friends were talking about their boyfriends, how badly they wanted one, or how sad they were that they were single. While I love a cute boy as much as the next girl, I never got into the hype of it all and hated the idea that you could only be happy if you were in a relationship like everybody made it seem.
A few years ago I had an amazing realization. A self-worth epiphany, if you will. One of my best friends was in the relationship of his dreams, or so he thought. A few years after dating, he found out that his boyfriend had been cheating on him, and his heart broke into a million pieces. He gave so much to someone who turned out to not even be worth it, only to feel like he had lost himself in the process. So much of his happiness and self-worth was rooted in the other person that when they broke up, he didn't even know who he was anymore. In him I saw the potential for a new, fresh beginning, while all he saw in himself was someone who wasn't good enough to make him stay. This, sadly, seems to be a reoccurring theme in people's relationships, and I finally figured out why.
While having a significant other can no doubt contribute to your happiness, they shouldn't be the only source of it. If you consistently depend on somebody else to make you happy and make you feel good about who you are, what happens when they leave? Not to say that a break up and saying goodbye to somebody isn't going to be heartbreaking, but it should never shake your self-worth. For this reason, I determined that it's more important to love yourself than anything else. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that cockiness and egotism is the way to go, but from my experience, when you can love yourself regardless of what anybody else thinks, true happiness actually sets in. If you aren't secure with yourself and if you don't truly accept yourself for who you are, how can you expect somebody else to?
I remember being asked in the hallway "who I dressed up for" or "who I was trying to impress" like I couldn't wear a dress or curl my hair for the sole reason of wanting to walk through the school knowing I was killing it. Or, how could we forget those family members that never fail to ask you if you're in a relationship yet or how your (nonexistent) love life is going. My promise to you, Odyssey Readers, is that loving yourself and being truly happy with who you are as a person will change your life for the better.
So ladies and gentlemen, if somebody stops you and asks who you look so good for, just smile at them and say, "Myself".
