You are difficult to love because you have standards. Because you are unwilling to jump into a relationship with someone you barely know. Because you want to learn who someone truly is before you hand your heart over to them, before you let yourself trust them, before you give them everything within you.

You are difficult to love because you have a strong voice. Because you do not let yourself get walked over. Because you speak up when you are being mistreated. Because you do not let others get away with murder. You do not let them talk down to you. You do not let them take advantage of your kindness. You do not let them string you along because you realize you deserve more than that.

You are difficult to love because you are stubborn. You know what you want and you are not going to settle for less. You are not going to accept worse than you deserve. You know your own worth. You know what you have earned. You aren’t going to let anyone convince you otherwise.

You are difficult to love because you have high expectations. You expect your person to text you back quickly. To keep promises. To follow through on plans. To set aside time for you. To schedule date nights. To call you when they are going to be late. To tell you what they are thinking the moment they think it. To be honest and loyal and loving at all times.

You are difficult to love because you love yourself. Because you see your internal value. Because you know what kind of person you are looking to settle down with and are unwilling to deal with one-night stands or friends with benefits. You are unwilling to deal with halfways and almosts. You are unwilling to let someone steal your heart when they are undeserving of it.

You are difficult to love because you have strong morals. You do not want your person to come home smelling of smoke and liquor on weeknights. You do not want your person to run around behind your back. You do not want your person to lie straight to your face. You do not want your person to do anything sketchy, anything that you would be ashamed about, anything that would cause you to lose faith in them.

You are difficult to love because you have so much to give — and expect the favor to be returned. You do not want a one-sided love. You do not want your feelings unreciprocated. You expect to be given as much as you are offering. You expect to be treated as an equal.

The truth is that you are not actually difficult to love — but some people will claim that you are because they do not want to do the work. They do not want to put in the effort. They do not want to go out of their way to make you happy. They want the relationship to be easy on them and hard on you. They do not want to give you the kind of love that you deserve. They do not have what it takes to become your forever.