To the people who are tired of chasing love:
I know you're not desperate, and I know it's an insult to even use the word. I know that you're not going to settle. You're desperate to feel like you have someone; you're desperate to not be alone. You're trying to hurry the process up and you're searching and searching and exhausting yourself looking for your person. I know, and I don't blame you. The efforts are long and hard and they usually yield nothing but disappointment. I've been there, and I am there. We've all been there.
I know it's hard to feel like you're enough sometimes when you're alone. It's hard to not chase people even if they don't want you. It's hard not to want what's not good for you if it makes you feel good more often than it doesn't. Even if it makes you feel good less than it doesn't. It's hard to get past the feeling of loneliness and not let it lower your self-worth. It's hard not to accept less than you deserve because it's all you can get. It's hard to love yourself on bad days. It's hard to get out of your own head. And some days are harder than others.
Know this: you are worth more than what people give you.
You are more than the ignored texts you've agonized over and the amount of times you've been stood up. You are more than your crushed hopes when things fall through. You are more than the closure you don't get. You are more than your Tinder matches, your Facebook friends and the guys that call you "baby" at the bar but don't call you anything after the night is over.
Your worth does not depend on how much attention you get, and you don't have to chase it. You don't have to beg for anyone's time who really deserves yours. You don't have to disrespect yourself to get anyone to notice you. But you don't have to wait, either. There is nothing wrong or incomplete about you as you are. While you're searching for something "else," you're going to miss yourself. Don't search. Don't wait. Just be, and when your someone or something "else" comes into the picture, it will be an addition rather than a completion. And it will be perfect.
There's a big world out there, and I'll be damned if being alone keeps me or you or anyone else from enjoying every bit of it. Don't miss it.
