Taking a Look Back

From 18-22 I spent my time in three relationships.

The first one was with a 23 year old guy who worked with me at a restaurant. He was funny, smart, and good looking. I had just moved out of my house for the first time and was on the high of being independent and taking care of myself. The last thing I needed was to be in a relationship, but I ignored what everyone told me and became serious with him. I was definitely settling because for the first few months since he was so broke all the time we didn't ever go out on dates or anything of that nature. We ended up living together for awhile until he gambled our rent money one month. I finally packed my things and moved back home, but I was already talking with this other guy...who lived in California.

I had been broken up with the first guy for a month or so when I decided to move back to California (I was born and raised an hour north of Los Angeles). I told people that it wasn't for this other guy, but he definitely played a part in it. He was again sweet, caring, and good looking, but he didn't have a job and participated in extracurricular activities that I did not care for at all. His aspirations included working in Hollywood in the film industry, but he was not doing too much to get there except rack up over $100,000 dollars in school loans. Again, I lived with him for awhile when things went bad with my father until the time finally came that I knew I needed to move back home to Kentucky.

I returned to Kentucky and then three months later I met boyfriend #3. He was a doozie let me tell you. Not only was he my best friend's ex-boyfriend (they only dated three months, she cheated on him, and she dumped him- so I did not feel all that bad dating him to begin with), he was an avid smoker, which I told myself I would never date, he had a crappy work ethic, and all he ever wanted to do was sit around or go to the bars. He was fun, but other than that I have no idea what I saw in him, but I stayed with him for 10 months.

Finally, it was time for me. I was tired of committing myself to men that were completely not right for me and not living up the best years of my young life.

I needed time to figure myself out and who I was and where I wanted to go with my life. When one knows themselves the best it becomes easier to see who will or will not blend well with your life. Once you understand yourself you feel as though you owe yourself the best and are less likely to settle. These are things that you cannot be told which makes it hard and annoying most of the time.

This reminds me- I heard the other day that in Germany you are not allowed to get married until you are 26. We should have a law like that in hopes that people will take the time to get to know themselves before they go out and try to learn about other people. What do you think??