It seems like more often than not these days, we find ourselves facing one main question...

Do they genuinely care about me or am I wasting my time?

It's sad that this is such a popular question, but the reality of it being the latter of the two is becoming increasingly more common. Shocker, I know.

These are the people that will put in the effort until they get what they want from you... leading you to eventually keep one eye open at all times and lose trust in dating altogether.

You continually have to keep their intentions in check.

You begin to shelter yourself and put up walls. You hide the best parts of yourself because you don't want to lose them to someone that won't appreciate them.

You push aside every bit of doubt you have because you want it to work so bad... but you just can't force it.

It's stressful. It's unreasonable. It's unfair. Keep your own intentions in check bro, and make sure that if they're not good, you don't drag me down with them.

I kept telling myself that you'd get there and that I just needed to hang in there. But the more that you didn't, the less blind I was. And I realized that I wasn't even in love with the things about you, I was in love with the potential you showed me... and when that potential disappeared, I panicked.

It's one of those situations where you end up trying too hard and get frustrated because things aren't working... and then you make stupid decisions.

You can feel yourself trying too hard, doing too much.

And maybe I do try too hard. Maybe I hope and dream too much. But if you're not clueing me in on how you feel, then I'm left wondering... left to fill in the blanks on my own. I'm left running through everything in my head, trying to figure out what changed.

Sometimes words are not enough to make sure someone feels that you care about them. Sometimes it needs a little effort to support those words (or lack of words). I know, that's crazyyyyyyyy... but really, it's not.

Moral of the story: never chase anyone. A person who cares about you will make it known.

The world isn't going to end if he doesn't like you. I used to put so much effort into making sure that I was exactly what a guy would want. ERRRR, that was my first mistake, don't let it be yours too. My second mistake was trusting that I was the only girl he was talking to. And lastly, I made the mistake of opening up too early to someone that couldn't have given less of a damn about me.

You're here. You're important. You DO Matter. You're allowed to be whoever you want to be. You are entitled to have an opinion.

Don't run after him to prove that you matter. Trust me... if you have to show him that you're still around, his attention is being directed elsewhere.

In the end, if he doesn't text me, I'll understand. If he doesn't make time for me, I'll understand. If he doesn't care about me, I'll understand.

And when I walk away, he'll understand.