Corniest phrase ever, I know, but it's a phrase that holds so much truth behind it. Let's be real, obviously the first thing we notice about a person is their appearance. Not necessarily their attractiveness, though half the time that is the case, but also the way they carry themselves. I don't want to sound harsh, but if you don't have a physical attraction to someone, it's just not going to work, but what we find attractive in a person, may be different from what others find attractive.
Our society has become a complete sh*t show when it comes to love and dating, and don't get me wrong, I am totally on the boat of not needing a significant other to be happy, but I think as a generation, our idea of love has gone astray. Most of the time we mistake lust for love, and this is because people are focusing way too much on looks. Looks absolutely matter but I would rather be with a cute guy who has an awesome personality and sense of humor, than an extremely hot guy with the personality of a stump.
Not to mention, what our generation finds and deems "attractive" now has completely changed. Apparently the new definition of "attractive" for girls is girls who walk around half naked, dressing risque, with a face that looks like they just got there make up done for a special event. I'm not saying that girls who look like this have anything wrong with them at all, but the fact that there is a distinct category of what "attractive" should look like is absolutely ridiculous.
Personally, I've found that after getting to know a person and more about their personality, I tend to find them more attractive. When a person can brighten up a room through their personality and humor rather than through their looks, that's when you realize that they are attractive.
I am absolutely no love guru, and actually have pretty much no experience on the matter, but from an outside perspective, I think our society really needs to learn from the phrase, "it's what is on the inside that counts," because later in life if you marry someone solely due to looks, you're going to be real unhappy when your attractive significant other ages and their looks were the only thing you liked about them. Either that, or, you'll be the old guy/woman trying to hit on young attractive people and let's be real, that never finishes with a happy ending.