This is a message particularly for all the ladies out there, chivalry isn’t dead! Guys still open doors, bring you flowers for no reason and respect you as they should. However, I did not believe that guys were like this and I had given up on it, beginning to settle for less than I deserve. I have been cheated on countless times and after a while, it began to break me. I convinced myself that I was not good enough and that no guy would ever love me properly. Yes, at sixteen years old I felt this way and that’s the problem with today’s society. It has been so normalized for men to treat women wrong and that is not right. It happens to hit very close to home with me because of past experiences. I am here to tell you do not put up with it!

I can actually remember my first date so vividly and this happened to be the first guy that I introduced to my parents. He opened the door for me to get in the car and I remember thinking “wow this is so sweet, he is off to a good start.” Then when he got in the car he said, “don’t expect me to open the door for you, I just wanted to impress your parents.” Of course, my first instinct was to get out and go back into my house, but I decided to have a bit more fun with it. Instead, I refused to get out of the car the whole entire night until he came and opened the door for me. With that being said, women, it is time to stand your ground.

When I started standing up for myself and not settling for less and took a break from dating for a while. A wonderful guy came into my life who happens to be my current boyfriend. Let me just begin by saying that he is everything that I have ever waited on, hoped, and prayed for. If everything that has happened in my life, all the heartaches, led me to him then I’d do it all over again.

Therefore, ladies don’t ever settle because you are worth so much and you will find someone who appreciates you. Now I can happily say that I am with a guy who tells me to not walk so fast so he can hold the door for me. Ladies, it is such a small gesture, but it's the small things that count.

To the men, if you are reading this, it is time to tune in. This message happens to go hand and hand with this quote that I love, “don’t give up what you want most for what you want now.” I know that most of us feel like we need to have a significant other (both genders). Which means that leads to us willing to be alright with being treated unfairly. In the same way, I have seen men give women the world and then women treat men wrong.

It is not, under any circumstances, okay to give up your dream spouse because you want to be in a relationship now. Maybe all your friends have a boyfriend/girlfriend? Maybe all of them are getting married and you are single? So you decide to settle and give up everything you’ve ever wanted for now! Yes, we are humans and we tend to want everything now. Trust me, I get it, I am probably the most impatient person you will ever meet in your life but it is a lot better to wait. Especially when there is a person out there for you, just keep waiting and never give up.

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