I saw a post the other day in my Facebook news feed that normally wouldn’t have caught my eye, but for some reason, it sent my mind reeling. The post basically said, “If you could write your 18-year-old self a note, what would it say?” At first, I thought, “okay, how long can this note be? Handwritten or typed? Where do I find old lottery numbers?” The more I thought about it, the more I figured out that there isn’t much I would tell myself that I didn’t already know. I’ve lived a good life, and I don’t think there is much I would have changed. That being said, there is one thing I would enlighten a younger version of myself about: love.
Take What you Think About Love and Throw it Away
Take everything you think you know about love, and throw it out the nearest window. All of the preconceived notions that you’ve created about love are not going to make it any easier to find or figure out. Let it happen. Be open to it. Hollywood has painted this unobtainable version of love that so rarely exists in real life that it’s about as useful as trying to grab a handful of wind.
Read: Why Highly Intelligent People Struggle to Find Love
Nothing is better – Nothing can be Worse
Love can be the best and worst thing that’s ever happened to you, and you need to be ready for both. Having love in your life will change it just as much as losing it will. Again, you have to appreciate both sides of the coin. Take the good with the bad, graciously.
Jumping and Falling are Two Different Things
There is going to be a time when it looks like love, sounds like love, and even feels like love – but it isn’t. The difference between jumping and falling is that jumping is an option. Falling is just something you do. Real love doesn’t give you an option.
Read: How To Get Her To Fall In Love With You: Explained By Science
Your Heart was made to be Broken
The heart is a resilient thing. It’s not some Faberge egg that will shatter into a million tiny pieces at the first instance of mishandling. Sure, it’s going to feel that way, but I assure you that those pieces will go back together with time. The heart is amazing in the punishment it can take.
The ones that didn’t work out. Every failed relationship is a lesson. Every lost love is an experience that makes the next one have that much more potential to be amazing. So often, people see failed relationships as just that: a failure. The truth is, they are successes. They are one step closer to finding the right person for you.
