Love is Overrated, But I Still Hope

Intro: How it Began and Paused

It has been over a year since I moved to New York and attempted to live as a semi self-sufficient adult. I consider myself somewhat experienced in certain aspects of life, but very naive when it comes to others, notably in the law of attraction and dating. I want to be a cool girl; a savvy New Yorker who can navigate the casual dating scene without sappy, cheesy, unrealistic expectations. I thought I could.

I never saw myself as someone who liked playing with fire (I'm that one annoying friend who is super cautious and can always find a way to insert reality). You know you're going to get burned when you get too close, but the colors are so brilliant you itch to touch it.

Dating was never a large part of my life before graduating from college. I "liked" people, but never really did anything about it. Now without the distraction of homework, I wanted to explore that realm more. Granted, New York is a very difficult place for this. Everyone is transient and we are presented with so many options that it makes it hard to commit to even try committing.

So I told myself it's a matter of how much you get burned. You can carry a scar forever---one that time will fade but never completely heal, or you can be crippled by jumping in. I don't plan on getting so burned that I can't recover, but a little scarring? If that's the price to pay for playing with fire, then maybe it's worth it (I am more courageous when given hypothetical situations, and I'm prone to doing stupid things).

Long story short, it has been interesting. I'm still trying to parse through and process the key takeaways from all the experience I've gathered during this past year. Hence, I'm taking a break from actively dating to gather my thoughts. Hopefully I can share some insights with you.