1. We care a lot (and usually way too much)

Nice girls are used to giving 110 percent to anyone and everyone they care about: their parents, their friends, the homeless man on the street, and their significant others. So, they give a guy their whole heart and expect the same in return. When that doesn’t happen, they are devastated and it drives them crazy to think someone doesn’t reciprocate the complete devotion that they give.

2. We are optimistic and hopeful

We are always expecting the best out of everyone and every situation. So, when we enter a new relationship, we think it will be magical and last forever. We seriously just can’t help it. We just aren’t realistic about really anything. So, when it ends like everyone around us told us it would, we are crushed. Mind, body, and soul. Crushed.

3. We are givers

Giving is our game and we play it well. We love to give to the people we love. Whether it’s small surprises on the reg just to show how much we care or huge extravagant surprises to let our man know he’s the best, we just love to give. We eventually give until we can’t give anymore, and when we aren’t being given anything, we just run out of fuel and it breaks our little hearts.

4. We are over the top about life

We just love to love and be alive and run around smiling and laughing and giving people flowers and being ridiculously annoying. We’re really just too much. Too much to handle and too much to deal with for a long time unless you just really love us and accept our ridiculous ways. That goes for when we’re sad too. We are dramatic and let the whole world know how sad we are, which makes us look pretty crazy. Sorry we’re dramatic and sorry we’re either way too happy or way too sad, but we seriously don’t know how to stop it.

5. Our emotions get the best of us

We cry when we see two old people holding hands or one old person eating alone. We cry when we watch any and every movie with Rachel McAdams in it. We play out these romantic scenarios in our heads that will probably never even happen. We plan out our futures the moment we meet a guy. It’s ridiculous, we know, but just leave us alone. We can’t help we’re hopeless romantics.

6. We need affirmation

We nice girls have to be reminded daily or ten times a day that we are beautiful, special, cool, loved, fun, neat, awesome, nice, etc. It doesn’t matter if you told us last week that you’ll love us forever, we need to be told now and later. Sorry, it’s the way our fragile little brains work. It doesn’t make us dumb or weird, it’s just how we function. Tell us we’re pretty. Tell us you love us. It’s not that hard. But, when weeks go by with no affirmation – yikes. Watch out. Because you’ve just unleashed an emotionally unstable monster.

7. We think everyone’s else’s brain works just like ours

Nice, sweet girls just have this naive belief that everyone else in the world is nice and sweet too. It rocks our world to know that other people (mainly our significant other) aren’t always thinking of ways to make other people happy. War and violence? No way. Our boyfriend isn’t oozing with affection for us? You’re kidding! Naive and never understanding why that guy isn’t always thinking of ways to make us happy – that’s us. We’re sorry.

8. We don’t plan for goodbye

“You can plan for a change in the weather and time, but I never planned on you changing  your mind.” That’s a great quote from a great song, “Last Kiss,” by a great person, Taylor Swift. She hit the nail right on the head with that line. As a nice, sweet girl herself, Taylor is letting the world know how tragic it is when someone tells us goodbye because we just never thought it could happen. It’s not that we think that highly of ourselves, we just aren’t usually the ones that say goodbye. There are exceptions, sure, but for the most part, we are in it for the long haul with friends or boyfriends. We commit and we are buckled down and ready for forever. We like plans and boy do we hate when those plans get messed up. It’s hard for us to cope with someone throwing a wrench in our perfect plans, so we go a little bit nuts and bolts when a guy says goodbye and leaves us feeling all messed up and broken.

9. Love not war

We are all about some love, no fighting. We don’t want to fight, we really don’t. Love makes us so happy, and no love makes us so sad. When we get into arguments with our significant other, we just want to say, “Okay let’s just not fight and let’s make up right now and pretend it never happened.” We don’t want to “give each other space” or “take time to think” because that does no good in our minds. We want it solved and we want it solved now. We want to just be happy and loving and we usually cause another fight because we won’t just give it a rest.

10. We just really do believe in love and happy endings

We grew up being told of this Prince Charming dude that would come knocking on our doors. We bought into it and believed it wholeheartedly. We didn’t watch the Disney movie where the princess DIDN’T get the prince. So, when we meet someone who we think is here to rescue us from the fiery tower, imagine our surprise when he leaves us in the tower! How rude. We just want a fairytale, so when we get just the opposite, it’s hard for us to believe there’s someone else out there. We’ll get over it, we swear, but first, let us cry hysterically and post a super sappy tweet about love and broken hearts. Call us crazy, but it’s how we deal with Mr. Charming bailing.

So, next time you encounter a crazy ex-girlfriend, just remember, she was once (and still is) a nice, sweet, loving, optimistic soul that just wants some love. We know you aren’t the one, and that isn’t your fault. And she’ll figure that out too and send you some long, tender text six months after you break up about how she’s moved on and she’s thankful for what you taught her. And she means it. It makes her look even crazier, but just take it for what it is –  a nice girl letting you know she isn’t as crazy as you told her friends she was.

And when you find that one that you will marry and love forevermore, chances are, she was a crazy ex-girlfriend one time too.