A lot of young people seem to know exactly what they want out of life at an extremely young age. Unfortunately, I was not one of those people. I had no clue what I wanted to do for a living, where I saw myself settling one day, or what my actual values were. But, I did know I desperately wanted to fall in love and have the type of relationship people wrote poems and songs about.
So much about life seemed complicated, ugly, and frustrating. But I saw romantic, committed love as the one thing I would always be able to count on to be beautiful, easy, and meaningful — something that, once found, I’d always be able to turn to for comfort and solace. (Boy, did I have a lot to learn.)