This Is How You Will Be Loved

To the person who hasn’t been in a relationship.

There is nothing wrong with you just because you don’t look ‘trendy enough’ or the most fit person in the room. You don’t have to pretend to be the person you’re not to get the attention of someone sitting next to your table. Don’t feel pressured if all your friends are in starry relationships and constantly upload pictures of them with their romantic partners everywhere. Stop pitying yourself for the times that you watch rom-coms alone on Friday nights while checking your phone only to find out nobody even cares to ask how you’re doing.

It is okay if you haven’t found somebody who measures up to the standards you set for your lover quite yet.

Someone’s going to walk in your life and love you exactly for who you are. Someone’s going to understand your peculiar interests, no matter how odd they may seem to other people. Someone’s going to accept your enthusiasms for deep poetic verses you read inside a book and for when a lead character in your favorite movie utters a line you can relate to so much. Someone’s going to find it adorable every time you study beautiful buildings or tear up watching colorful fireworks.

To the person who never gets it right with love,

Maybe the one you’re pursuing is meant for someone else. Perhaps it isn’t the timing that is wrong, but the story you’re putting yourself into. And no, it isn’t your fault you fall in love so quickly and you’re just trying to give it a shot. We’ve all had our fair share of embarrassing mistakes in the past, but we’ve learned our lessons and we’ve turned out to be alright.

Sometimes the world is already saving you the hassle and you just have to open your eyes.

The man of your dreams or the girl you’re dying to marry is going to make a surprise appearance in your story under the least expected season. Your heart will melt as soon as you notice the gaze that he or she is pointing directly towards you, and you won’t be able to shake the feeling that it’s finally the true love you’ve been waiting for. So have patience that you’re going to get it damn right the next time around.

To the person with a broken smile,

It might be stormy now, but know that the tides always turn. If you think nothing lasts forever, then so do your awful memories and difficult experiences, but that’s not true. There is no way that your heartache will last eternally; in time the pain will gradually mend. Your attempt to conceal the quiver in your lips as you display your fake laughs will soon be gone.

There are billions of people in the world and not everyone is going to destroy you the same way your ex did.

Someday someone will fix your smile and give you plenty reasons to love again. Someone will make you realize that the moments you spent under bitterness weren’t worth the trouble. Someone will try to convince you to open yourself one more time because your vulnerability will be safe in that person’s hands. Someone will show you the bright side of life and remind you how to hope, to risk, and to trust.

To the person who’s committed in a wrong relationship,

Whether it is agreeing to an arranged marriage or being in an abusive relationship or staying with a person who disgustingly cheats on you — you always have the right to leave.

You can walk away to a decision that is handed to you without your consent and say no to the norms the society built. You can walk away to the person who doesn’t respect you and treat you like a human being. You can walk away from the one who puts you as a default second option.

You value is much higher than how other people may quantify your worth, no matter how much you underestimate yourself.

You deserve to be loved by someone who will give you that feeling when you open a gift on Christmas morning. You deserve the freshest flowers and the sweetest chocolates from someone who’s willing to stay loyal to you until the end. You deserve those crazy moments when you can almost pee in your pants as you see your lover approach you with popcorn and Snickers bars in both hands at the movie theater, making you realize how lucky you are.

One day, you will be loved in an incredible way that brings out the shiniest parts of you.

One day, someone’s going to show up in your life who will make your heart flutter wildly and make you wonder, “Where have you been all along?”