This is not only something people have been telling me for the past year, it's something that I've found to be so incredibly true. When you're young it's hard to separate feelings you have for someone and what you need to grow as a person. The past year has been torture along with eye-opening for me. Self-care comes first. Always. How do we as people expect to find this "everlasting love" we're supposed to have when we barely know who we are as individuals? I for one have spent the past year compromising who I am for someone I thought I loved more than life itself. Now I'm not saying all young love is fake, but I feel like I was holding myself back from finding out who I want to be in my life and what I want to achieve for myself. I think love and romance are pushed on us from such a young age that that's all we think about. We all want to find THE ONE.

But what about the one we're supposed to be? What about our successes outside of a relationship? I think we as a society should be teaching younger generations that it's okay to not be in a relationship in your mid to late 20's or even beyond because we need to focus on what we want to do for ourselves before we can be truly happy with another person and grow with them. So do me a favor, grow on your own! Do things YOU want to do. In my case, that means dropping out of beauty school that I wasn’t happy with, moving to another state to go to college to pursue something I love, and worrying about the friendships I have with people in my life and how the interactions affect the kind of person I want to be. Just think about you for once.