All 18-years of my life so far have been, for the majority, spent single. Despite talking to a few (two) guys here and there, I have never been able to call a boy my boyfriend. That changed around the second week of college. After three dates the question “Will you be my girlfriend?” seemed to haunt me a little bit. I obviously liked this boy, but this had been the first dates that I’ve really ever been on. I was worried that I would waste the first few weeks dating this guy and it would all blow up in my face – as many past almost-dating had been. However, I took that leap and now (2 months later), I’ve never been happier. Due to this being my first relationship, however, there has been so much that I’ve learned and that I’m still trying to teach myself.

Being in a relationship is weird and confusing and awesome, it’s a whole other realm that I never thought it would be. There is this person that I can now talk to about literally anything that truly cares about me – and that must forcibly give me attention. It’s truly an amazing balance of having a best friend and also a boyfriend all at once. Being in a relationship, however, does let a girl learn a lot about herself, in bad ways and in good ways.

When you talk/see someone every day you learn the annoying things that you say on a regular, and just how often you have to hold in a fart. You also get to learn if you can handle hanging out with someone every single day and if you really are comfortable with sharing your emotions and feelings. I am not that good at sharing emotions, but taking the baby steps to trying to open up more and more is honestly a very therapeutic and healthy thing to do. Being in a relationship is really interesting and very enlightening, no matter how confusing it can be.

The things that you can learn from relationships span over so many different topics, from how you feel about yourself to how you feel about certain situations. You begin to learn that doing new things and meeting new people is exciting. You may have never heard a certain type of artist or seen a TV show, but now you find yourself listening/watching something that you truly love.

You also learn to see yourself in a better light, like maybe you don’t feel the need to constantly dress up or wear makeup around all the time. Like who else do you need to impress now, when your boyfriend has seen you looking like Lindsey Lohan from her mugshot. Besides the superficial things that you learn about yourself and your significant other, you also learn stuff about your emotions and feelings.

During relationships, you get to learn all about respect and trust and how to learn what really matters. You develop memories and facts, and you teach yourself how to be less selfish in a relationship. Relationships are all about balance and being able to trust each other at all times.