The thing that s**** about love is this: it is so culturally ingrained in people to want love/to be in a relationship that they don’t actually care who they are with, just as long as they have “it.”

Being in a relationship is a status symbol. It is an affirmation to the ego and society that says, “I am worthy of love, see!”

But true validation comes from within. It is only when we lose everything and have nothing that we know who we really are. And we must sit with who we really are for long enough to fall back in love with our self. It is the only way to live fulfilled and a life of substance.

She came back from her vacation, and began to micromanage everything I did. She wanted to change everything about me. Why? Because I want the guy she happened to be with, and as far as she knew love meant sticking it out with someone–even if you don’t actually know, love, or care about who that person is.

This is a selfish form of love. She tried to train me into being a machine that dispenses what she wanted from the relationship with as little friction and conflict as possible. “Am I beautiful?” She would ask, fishing for compliments and validation. “Do you love me?”

“I want this. I want that. I want this. I want your hand. I want your arms. I want you to hold me. I want s**.”

I know I have a lot to offer as a significant other. And I also know I deserve so much better than you. You brought nothing to the relationship. You took.