You Need To Follow Your Heart, Even If It Leads You In The Wrong Direction

In some inexplicable way, I am both a chronic over-thinker and uncontrollably impulsive person, and there is no area of my life where that is more prevalent than when it comes to romance.

I’m liable to spend hours trying to decipher a text message, and then several minutes trying to craft the perfect response. I’m also liable to do some over-the-top gesture just because it felt like the thing to do. There’s no way of telling when either reaction will surface, and it’s never easy to tell in the moment if either of them are even appropriate.

Every decision-making moment ultimately comes down to one firm belief: Follow your heart — always, and unabashedly.

At the end of the day, nobody will be able to tell you what makes you happy. Nobody can make you feel a certain way for someone else. We know ourselves better than anyone else, so to take the advice of an outsider — however close they may be to you — over your own intuition is, in my opinion, irresponsible.

It’s fine to ask others what their opinion on the matter is, but more often than not we’re just looking for validation of our own true feelings. Even if every party around us says, “That’s a bad idea,” there’s always a part of us thinking, “But you never know…”

And that’s why we should follow through with pursuing our desires every single time.

The odds of something you want falling into your lap — be it a promotion, love, wealth, fame, or whatever — are slim. We have to make it happen for ourselves. Sure, the pretty girl or handsome guy you’re into could have feelings for you and profess them to you first, but why take the risk of that never happening?

I’ve always believed it’s better to shoot your shot and miss than to sit on the bench and never get in the game.

So the next time you meet someone who makes you laugh, who makes your face light up when you see their name pop up on your phone, who runs through your mind throughout the day, and who you want to spend your time with, wake the fuck up and realize that this person means something to you. Then do something about it.

The feeling doesn’t have to be love, but it is something that goes beyond a platonic friendship and sexual attraction, and more often than not, that means something special.

You may find out over time that they’re not the person you thought they were. You may find out that your feelings for them were short-lived. You may find out that there was just no spark or chemistry between the two of you to connect on that level. But any of those realizations will ultimately be greater than living with regret from doing nothing about it, and you will never know how things will unfold unless you take action.

The next person you meet could end up becoming just another number in your phone, or they could be the person you spend the rest of your life with. If everything inside of you is pulling you towards them, stop resisting and let your heart guide you.

It’s amazing how easily people forget that long before, “I do,” there was, “Hello.”

It all starts somewhere, and it all starts with the person who wasn’t afraid to go after what they wanted.

Those of us on the road to love will have a far greater chance of getting to our destination after making wrong turns and pit stops than those who never leave the house.