If you had told the person I was a year ago that I should thank my ex after we broke up, I would have laughed straight in your face.

"Thank him for what? A ruined relationship? A broken heart? Yeah, no thank you."

And although he's not a person I want to talk to on any given day, I really am glad that we aren't dating anymore. He was not a terrible human and our relationship was not all that bad. But he also was not my prince charming and our relationship was far from straight out of a fairy tale.

He's deserving of a thank you because he was able to realize the problems and walk away before I was. I was definitely in denial when it came to some of the issues in our relationship and I realize now that is not the way that I would have wanted to live forever.

"I've learned from my pain, I turned out amazing"

As heartbroken as we get after a breakup, we have so much yet to learn about ourselves and about relationships. They say that you cannot truly love someone else until you learn to love yourself and I have seen it first hand. If you do not love yourself, you allow your life to revolve around that person, losing parts of yourself in the process.

I've learned what I want and deserve in a relationship. I also learned that I can manage just fine without someone in my life. Relationships can be a wonderful thing and make you feel as though you are on top of the world, but the bad should never outweigh the good. No relationship is perfect, but you have to realize that there comes a time when it is better for both people to walk away.

"One taught me love, one taught me patience, one taught me pain."

I feel like each person I have dated over the years was to lead me to where I am now. From a couple weeks to a couple years, each leads us closer to finding who it is that we will spend the rest of our lives with. Chances are the random frat boy who makes you drunk guy every weekend, isn't the love of your life.

Take all the time you need to focus on yourself because contrary to popular belief, you don't always need to have a boyfriend. You don't need anyone to validate your worth or tell you that you're pretty.

So maybe thank your ex for letting you find someone much better, even if it meant a few tears along the way. Sometimes all it takes is getting out of that relationship to realize that you were way out of their league. Everyone seems great while you're still together and even right after you break up, but the reality is that somethings just weren't meant to be.

Find someone who makes you feel like the queen of the world and then some. Don't settle.

Thank u, next.