I'll admit, I've never watched "The Bachelorette" or "The Bachelor." But between Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, I have a general gist of what goes on: men or women essentially compete against each other to be the last lover left for the bachelor/bachelorette.
This show essentially puts an entirely unrealistic expectation on love and relationships so today, I'm sharing five ways to find the real deal:
1. Be yourself!
Not what others expect of you. Not who you think you should be.
Finding real love requires both you and your partner to be yourselves; otherwise, it is bound to end in disaster.
2. Leave others out of it.
While it is good to take advice from others, at the end of the day, your relationship is your relationship. Focus on what is best for you as a couple and communicate that with each other. Especially when it comes to disagreements and fights, leave others out of it and focus on each other.
3. Don't go in with expectations.
Love doesn't look a certain way. It doesn't talk a certain way or walk a certain way. Despite what society has our brains trained to believe, looks do not matter. When you find love, it isn't going to matter how short you are, if you're on the thicker side, or if you have acne. Flaws to you are not flaws to everyone and the one who really loves you will love all of you.
4. Honesty.
There are no true secrets in the world. Eventually, everything comes out so being upfront and honest makes life easier for everyone. If someone doesn't love you because of something you did or said, they didn't love you to begin with. Ninety-nine percent of the time hiding something isn't going to help the situation.
5. Take it slow.
Love doesn't happen overnight and that makes complete sense because it isn't easy. It takes a lot of work, from both parties. Take it one day at a time and live in the moment - and I know that is hard to do, I'm super guilty of looking full speed ahead to the future.
While it makes for good TV (so I hear), "The Bachelor/Bachelorette" does not portray anything close to what love is. Someday expectations of what love is will adjust to reality, but today isn't quite that day.