"How are you going to be with just one person for the rest of your life?

You haven't even gotten to experience anyone else!" "Don't you think you're a little too young to be thinking about long-term, serious relationships?" "Aren't you bored?" "Why aren't you out there being a wild one while you're young?!"

It's almost like it's a sin nowadays to want to be with just one person and not go about dating in a way that middle schoolers would. Dating is like a game in today's society. You "date" someone for a couple weeks before you get bored and move onto someone else. It's like people date to have fun rather than to find the one, so I wanted to address a few stereotypes or doubts that are common to hear today.

We are not "too immature" to be in a relationship. We can grow together.

While it is argued that you are not fully developed until the average age of 25, that does not mean that you are too young to be in a serious relationship. The point of dating someone used to be to find your one and only; the one you want to marry, yet now it is viewed as some sort of game. You do not have to wait until you are 25 to settle down with someone. You can grow together.

We will not "crash and burn".

Just because you started dating someone when you were sixteen does not mean that you are bound to break up or have an unsuccessful marriage. You do not have to go through ten different relationships before you finally find "the one” when you are in your late twenties. Getting together young does not mean that you are doomed to be unsuccessful, it means that you have more time together.

Us living together should not be looked down upon just because we are not 27 and married.

I know that in some eyes it is a sin to live together before marriage, but not everyone has that view. Times have changed, and everyone has their own opinions and preferences. Just because I live with my boyfriend at the age of 18 does not give you the right to look down on us because you do not have the same views.

We are not sacrificing our adolescence.

We are not holding each other back from doing whatever you think “young people” are supposed to do. We can experience life together, as well as apart. Not everyone needs to go out every weekend and experience many different people before they settle down. It’s about being loyal and respecting one another.

It does not get "boring" after the first year.

I hear a lot of people assume that young love won't last because it would get boring too fast, but how do you think married people keep their relationship alive? It doesn’t just “get boring”. There are many things to experience together and many ways to keep one another happy, it isn’t just a short term game.

I personally look at it as a blessing that I did not have to go through a ton of heart breaks before I found a good guy, and I will forever be grateful for that.