What if I told you love doesn’t exist? Well, as depressing as it sounds, it doesn’t-- at least not in the way we think it does.The fairy tales we grew up hearing as a child are nice, but they aren’t realistic. The truth is, love is a lot more complicated than we think, and it also isn’t immune to being affected by outside situations and people. Instead of entering every relationship expecting sunshine and rainbows, we should be realistic about what it will really look like and how it is different than society sometimes makes it out to be.

For one thing, love does not always mean romantic love. A lot of people underestimate the power of friendship, sisterhood, and family, but these are all just as valid and can be just as strong as dating someone. I don’t want you to read this article and just think about your boyfriend or girlfriend. Remember that all relationships you have with others are significant, and it’s important to be grateful for every bit of love that comes your way-- even if it doesn’t include making out and holding hands. If you want to get a picture of what love really looks like, lose the idea that it has to be romantic to critically affect your life.

Secondly, love is not easy by any means. Every single person you meet in your life will disagree with you, at least in some ways, and there will always be fights. Not only will you argue, but you will find yourself crying over every person you love at some point in your relationship with them. No one is ever going to be so compatible with you that you never fight about anything, and everyone makes mistakes. The important thing to realize is that some people are worth the pain, and some are not. It’s crucial to your well-being to be able to recognize detrimental relationships and cut them out of your life whenever possible.

And lastly, we should lower our expectations of what our ideal relationship would look like. Although it’s nice to have a “type” picked out for our significant other or our ideal best friend, it’s nearly impossible to find someone who is exactly what we picture in our heads. Nine times out of ten, you’ll find that the perfect person for you doesn’t exist. Instead of limiting ourselves to one type of person, we should let everyone have a chance in our lives. Who knows? They might surprise you.

In the end, your life, and consequently, the people in it, will never be perfect. You will most likely never find a relationship that looks exactly like the books and movies. However, this doesn’t mean that letting people close to our hearts is pointless. Every person we meet has the power to change our lives, for better or worse, and the lessons we can learn from others are limitless. The good and the bad both have the power to teach us things about ourselves, and every experience will undoubtedly be worth it at the end of the day.