Falling in love sounds so beautiful, pure, and effortless. And honestly, Collegiettes, it can be. But allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough to give your heart to someone can be really daunting. It doesn’t come without personal growth, self love, and God’s perfect timing. So here goes the story of how I fell in love.
Two words: high school. Let’s just pretend those relationships didn’t happen.
We all have different high school relationship stories. Maybe some of you found your true love in a high school sweetheart. Maybe some of you dated people in high school who eventually became your very best friends. Neither of those were the case for me. I dated some in high school. I had one *somewhat* long-term relationship and a few other small relationships that honestly just didn’t amount to much. I’m not bashing these guys at all; every person along the way taught me something about myself, but the reality of it is that I was not ready to fall in love in high school, and I definitely had not found the right guy.
I wanted to be single – so much so that I pushed people away.
I grew up a lot during my senior year of high school. I realized how much I truly loved myself and how independent I’d become. I really just enjoyed living life with my best friend and not worrying about relationship problems as many of my friends in high school were. This year was a year of growth. During this year, I had become friends with some amazing guys that were interested in pursuing a relationship with me, but it never felt right. It was hard to grasp my head around why I would push these people away – but now I know it’s because it simply just wasn’t meant to be. I told myself that high school, especially my senior year, was not the time to start a relationship. I was so busy loving myself and enjoying my own company that I didn’t care about finding love in someone else.
I thought I would find the love of my life in college. I was wrong.
It’s honestly crazy how someone can enter your life so unexpectedly. Just when I thought the timing couldn’t be more wrong, the perfect guy for me walked into my life. I became friends with someone about a week before I graduated high school. When I first started talking to this guy, I kept telling myself that I didn’t have a crush on him, that we were just friends. I kept trying to talk myself out of liking him as much as I knew I subconsciously did. After we hung out the first time, I just knew that he was special. I never believed in the cliche “if you know, you know.” But I knew. The timing couldn’t have been more wrong. It was the summer before I went off to college, and I just felt ridiculous for wanting to begin a relationship with such high odds to fail. But after thinking about it, I thought to myself, why would I let such a great guy go just because I was too scared of the timing? Ironically, he couldn’t have entered my life at a better time. My heart spoke to me and told me that it was okay to let myself fall in love. And he brought out everything in me that I loved most about myself.
The act of falling in love.
Collegiettes, if I can give y’all any piece of advice, it’s this: you don’t need a partner! If I had never gone through a year or so where I was just so content being single, I would have never grown to learn who I am and what I love about myself. That is the first step of falling in love. Learning more about myself prompted me to learn more about what I wanted in a future spouse. Secondly, let go of your fears and trust your gut. It can be hard to go against the odds, but it has worked out so beautifully for me. The risks are worth the rewards.
It’s been over a year and a half since my soulmate stumbled into my world. Colliegettes, you can find your person. And maybe your person is YOU! Everyone’s love story is different, but if you love yourself first and foremost and trust the process, it will happen for you, too.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13