Everyone wants to feel accepted. It's in our nature. We want everyone to like us. We thrive on the feeling of being wanted. We preach self love and self acceptance, but the truth is we tell ourselves these things so that we will stop relying on others for acceptance. Is self love important? Yes. Is it easy? No.

This causes us to search for love in the easy places. The wrong places. We feel like if we search for it in sex, or entertaining someones feelings, that we will feel better for a second.

Take it from someone who's been there.

You might feel better for like an hour, or maybe even a day. However, you won't be fulfilled. In fact, you're going to be left emptier than you were when you started. You will give and give, hoping for something in return, until it's a few years later, and you are exhausted and have nothing left to give. Since you decided to look for love in the easy places, you're never going to get anything back either.

Let me tell you about the guys you are going to find in the easy places. Not the good ones. I'll start by telling you that. You're going to find the guys that you thought might be different. You will seek them out. When they leave, it will hurt. They will make you feel worthless. Until you break the cycle, you are going to be used and drained again and again.

Self love is the hard part. I'm only beginning to get there. It's a hard process, and after being used a billion and a half times, it makes it even harder. If you feel yourself starting to look for love in the wrong places, stop. You can make this way easier on yourself. I promise you that the curiosity and longing you feel now isn't nearly as strong as the hurt you're going to feel when all of it comes crashing down.

It will come crashing down.

Nothing easy can sustain itself. Life is hard, no one ever said it was going to be easy. This feeling of acceptance needs to come within you. The sooner you realize that a boy is not going to fill that void for you, the better off you will be.

I wish someone would've given me this advice years ago, so I'm passing it on to you, in the hopes that you'll stop yourself before you get hurt. It's only a matter of time.