Let’s face it, it’s all over the internet. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the primary revenue of action after a big event takes place––social media is littered with pictures of a sparkly new engagement rings on dainty fingers, passionate photo kisses and intriguing love-splat articles.

You daydream. You imagine. You create a world where your love with another reigns supreme. Maybe you have a significant other by your side, whether they’ve been there a week or a few years. Either way, you are enchanted with the thought of love - true love. Someone who would share their triumphs and hardships with you, and you with them. Someone who will love you unconditionally in the midst of all your weird quirks and bad habits.

A typical social media engagement announcement // via snapknot

You are young and in love, and the possibility of waiting for this love until you are older is unthinkable. You just won’t have it.

I can relate to this philosophy. You've been with a person that you believe is the man or woman you’ve always dreamed of, and the right “one” for you. Your family and friends both love this person you are with, obviously commitment is the next step in your mind and on your heart. It just feels so right. I remembering hating all the posts about waiting for love until you are older, more established. Why in the world would that be so important in the realm of love, right?

What you are not taking into consideration is change. Change has been and will always be in active motion. It is something everyone will have to take into account at one point or another, whether you are with someone else or not. The change I’m talking about is you.

When you are young, it is easy to think you have the world all figured out. It’s normal to make a game plan for your life. This may be blunt, but you don't. You haven’t experienced life yet. I don’t mean that in the sense that you haven’t experienced anything, I mean that in that there is so much you still have to learn before taking on life with another.

You haven't really figured out who you are, though you may fully believe you know. The early years into adulthood are meant for you to figure out those things - to focus all your energy on you. It’s a time that it’s okay not to know what you’re doing with your life or who you you want to become. It’s a time to figure out what you really and truly believe in while apart from your family and friends. It’s worth the time of putting a lifetime commitment on hold because it’s a period of your life you will never, ever have again.

Your dreams and goals for the future are worth the journey to pursue. If it is your desire, eventually, you will find someone. It could be the person you are with now or someone you meet later down the road, a person that shares your dreams and you will grow together in pursuing them. You will learn how to work together to make a life together. But until then, you deserve and have every right to pursue yourself by yourself. You are worth more time than being thrown into a lifetime commitment too soon. You are worth more than a significant other. Take the time for you to become you.

I promise, there will be another opportunity for a sparkly ring in the future.