Being a hopeless romantic comes with the stereotype that our head is always in the clouds and that we expect our relationships to be like the ones we see and hear about in the movies. It's hard for certain people to especially understand why I am the way that I am when it comes to love because I am definitely your typical cancer. I'm sensitive, I wear my heart on my sleeve, I fall in love very easily, and when I think I've found "the one" I start daydreaming 24/7 about my future with that person. So, in the end, when it doesn't work out between me and that person because they either only see me as a friend or aren't looking for a relationship, it feels like a true heartbreak to me. My daydreaming is definitely what gets me in trouble at the end of the day because all of those thoughts of being able to do cutesy couple things with that person and thinking about all of the adventures we would go on together gets my hopes up so much that the let down hurts a lot.

For me, love=life. Always has and always will. I don't understand why so many people are afraid of showing "too much" love and affection towards another person when for a hopeless romantic like me there is no such thing as showing too much love and appreciation. Something that I have done for the past couple of years is constantly reminding my friends and family members of how much I love them with my infamous phrase of: "I appreciate you." It's simple and sweet enough for these people in my life to feel my undying love for them but it's also a safe enough phrase to use especially for those afraid of the word "love." As a hopeless romantic, I have never been afraid to tell someone that I love them. In fact, another downfall is that I fall in love too easily with a guy if they show me the slightest bit of attention and put in minimal effort.

Personally, I have never been used to getting attention from a guy that I have been very attracted to so when my opportunity finally rolls around, it almost puts me in a state of shock.

I get overly excited that someone I chose to like and potentially love, is showing me attention and seems to appreciate my presence in their life. Earlier this year when I was still on winter break I found myself swiping through a dating app and I matched with a guy who I not only thought was very attractive but seemed to carry his heart on his sleeve just like me. It only took a week of talking and a total of eight hours of FaceTiming for me to fall in love with him. Yes, it may sound crazy to say that I was in love with a person in this short period of time, but it's just how I have always been.

After talking for about three weeks, he ended up ghosting me completely because he thought that he was "toxic" for me. This had to be the biggest heartbreak I have ever gone through in my entire life because a person that I practically fully opened up to was gone, and from there I would have to try to find another guy to fill his spot that I felt as if no one could possibly do.

Being a hopeless romantic will always be a huge part of my life when it comes to my personality and the way that I treat people. But if you are a romantic like me, never let anyone tell you that your ability to fall in love easily is a sign of being desperate or that your feelings are too rushed. Everyone is different, and some of us don't take six months or more to realize that we love someone, or some of us do which is totally okay! We all have different time frames and experiences when it comes to love, it just takes one special person to come into our lives to break all of the boundaries and rules we have ever set when it comes to saying "I'm in love" at a certain point in time.