This generation has become a generation filled with hookups, one nights stands, cheating, and “talking” because being “tied down” with one person just isn’t enough these days. I’m not really sure when our generation made the drastic jump from actually dating and taking relationships seriously to “Netflix and Chill-ing” and throwing away your significant other for a drunk hook up, but it’s an epidemic that only seems to be getting worse.
I’ve had several semi-serious relationships in my life, but even through all of those relationships, not once have I ever been taken on a “get dressed up, pick you up at 7” type of date or even received flowers. Honestly, we could chalk this up and blame it on my sour taste in boys, but I think it’s more than that. I think it really boils down the the fact that romantic gestures are a thing of the past and the new norm of this generation is treating people as conquests to be conquered and not people to emotionally invest ourselves with. We pride ourselves on “not having emotions” and playing the “who can care less” game and showing feelings makes you “desperate” or “crazy.”
But truth be told, there’s still a few of us hopeless romantics out there, as silly and hopeless it may seem, so maybe there’s hope for our generation after all.
I personally pride myself on being one of those hopeless romantics. I still cry at Nicholas Sparks movies and nothing makes me happier than seeing my dad send my mom flowers. Call me crazy, but I still cling to the hope that there’s a good man out there that’s going to look at me the same way my dad looks at my mom with my name written all over him. So to the few select others out there, know you’re not alone and you’re not crazy for not wanting to fall into the norms of this new dating age.
Know that it’s okay to not be the “hookup” kind of girl despite what this generation says. I promise that in five years, you’re going to want to be remembered as the intelligent, successful girl who had her mind right and respected herself instead of the wild party girl who flirted with everyone. Boys never bring the wild, party girl home to Mama; keep that in mind. Know that it’s 100% more gratifying to have a man put effort into you and work to deserve you. Your affection is something to be earned, not something to be handed out like loose change. Know that it’s still okay to expect romantic gestures and that you’re not high maintenance for expecting more than a simple “hey what’s up” text. It's okay to want moonlight and flowers and dates. You deserve to get dressed up and to be taken out and shown off. You deserve to feel adored and loved. You deserve to receive the same amount of effort and love put into you that you are putting into them. You deserve to be treated like the lady you are and don’t ever forget that.
Most importantly, don’t settle until you find yourself another hopeless romantic out there that looks at you like you hung the moon and don’t ever let him forget how much you appreciate him because the good ones are hard to come by these days.
I like to think of it this way. Twenty years from now, I don’t want to have to explain to my daughter that a cute boy sliding into her DM’s on Twitter isn’t romantic or watch her cry because she realized the boy she likes is only in it for the hookup. I don’t want to have to tell my son that he needs to take his girlfriend out on nice dates and show her off out of respect because he should just know this based on how his father treats me. And I certainly don’t want to be telling my kids the story of how I met their dad and have to say, “Oh, we met on Tinder when he asked me to come over to Netflix and chill.” Do you?
