I've always been a huge romantic. I've always been someone who was just waiting for that perfect person to sweep me off my feet. Every time Valentine's Day approached, there was always some part of me that hoped I would get a letter from a secret admirer like in one of the cheesy romantic young adult novels I used to read. But, as I grew older, and came to college, I was definitely thrown out of dreamland and into the real world.

As humans, we've all gone through things that have given us varying levels of experience and those experiences have shaped who we are, how we think and behave, and how we interact with others. Through that, we also develop our own sense of what it's like to love and be loved.

According to my younger self, my idea of love was having that secret admirer love that eventually comes to light through this adventure of finding out who they are but having them be the person right beside me all along. Then we fall in love and have a happily ever after.

The me now, reminisces about those cute thoughts but is more chained to reality. She doesn't think love is as one dimensional as it is portrayed to be in the novels.

I think love is something that's supposed to happen naturally and will happen when it's meant to happen.

It's never something forced and it won't come if you're constantly waiting around the corner to kidnap it. Love doesn't always mean something exciting and adventurous, it could also mean a sense of home and calmness.

Since I'm still very much single for this upcoming Valentine's Day, instead of waiting for love from someone else, I'm going to make a promise to love myself even more. I believe that you can't truly love someone else until you love yourself.