I don’t dislike the 14th of February, in fact I’m one of those who are secretly wishing someone will give me a long stemmed rose on the day. It has nothing to do with what the day signifies, because I honestly don’t understand what it does signify.

So on that day, I got a message from an ex-boyfriend saying, “I know you don’t love me anymore, but I want you to be happy on Valentine’s day and that you’re on my mind all the time”. Well it is thoughtful but I can’t help but feel bad about it. See I have a problem with people who profess strict compliance? or love? for their faith (religious) and does the complete opposite. Case in point, I once dated a guy who’s not allowed to drink alcohol and have relationships with girls other than his wife. I never learned to believe him because if he’s lying to himself and his God, how can he be true to me? Right? Right.

While I find nothing wrong with trying to fit in, it should never be at the cost of our own happiness. One lesson that I wish I’ve learned since birth is this: “What other people think about you is none of your business”. Before you say that it’s hard to not care about what other people think or say about you, know that it is even harder to wake up every morning knowing that you can’t be yourself just because you want other people to like you. Isn’t it better to be able to hang with friends that like you for who you are or to talk about things with your colleagues without worrying about begin unfairly judged? Do this and I guarantee that you’ll feel better and happier no matter how hard your life is right now.

In this world there’s only one opinion about you that should matter, yours

We all know how communication is a very vital part of any kind of relationship, having different languages, even though you both know a common language, let’s say English, doesn’t make things easy. Somebody broke up with her boyfriend a couple of days back saying, “I can’t see you anymore” to which the boyfriend thought she meant she just didn’t want to see him that night.

What’s worse is when they see a friend and they start talking to each other in their own language, it’s just plain rude. You’re left acting like you’re not trying to decipher what they’re talking about and hoping you won’t hear your name anywhere in their conversation.

2. Different views of love and marriage / Culture

It is true that people may be open to sex and open relationships but that does not necessarily equate them to be liberal when it comes to dating. Some who actually think they can fall in love at first sight, even if their religion tell them otherwise, they’ll still impose cliches on you. Some men just don’t understand that there can be girls who sleep with them just because they want to sleep with them and nothing else. And it isn’t fair to be expecting the girl to cook for you. Come on, get a cook to prepare your food.

3. Humor and Hobbies

Not everything you find laugh out loud funny will seem the same to them. And that sucks BIG TIME.

Are you currently dating someone who was born in a different country as you are? Share your thoughts.

How many times you should go out with somebody before taking things into another level? How young should the other person be? At what age you should marry? They all have some numerical value and I can’t help but think, do they really tell you something?

I know a lot of people who’ve been in the same relationship for 7 or more years and usually my first reaction is, “Wow…” because well, my longest serious relationship was five (5) months, serious and acknowledged (let’s not go into details for now). So it usually breaks the hopeless-romantic’s-heart in me when I hear people who’ve been together for almost a decade breaks up. If they can’t make it work, what about us humans?

I read this quote a while back and it got me thinking, is it really just about the journey and NOT about the destination? I’ve heard countless versions of this quote and to some extent i agree with what they stand for. But if you ask me, it’s missing a few points.

Since this quote talks how you will find joy/happiness in your life, I think it’s safe to say that the destination should have some weight as well. Can anyone be truly happy by just trying something and failing in the end? I had more than my fair share of failures and from what i remember, it did not feel great. No matter how hard I tried and no matter how much fun i had trying to achieve something, as long as I failed, it still felt bad. I still felt like shit. It still seemed that all my efforts were wasted and that I was better off to have not tried doing it in the first place. Sure, i learned a few new things while doing it, but was it really worth feeling this way? The same is not true when you reverse the situation. I’ve cheated on tests a few times, but it still felt great upon learning that i passed. It felt even better to know that you’ve achieved something without trying that hard. Sure, some would argue that I didn’t deserve to be happy. That may be true, but whose to say that what I felt wasn’t genuine happiness?

I guess what I’m trying to say is, find what makes you happy then do anything and everything possible to get it. Even if it means breaking a few rules along the way.

I find it quite interesting that the moment I changed my status on Facebook from Single to In A Relationship I got comments from friends and even people who aren’t really close to me about it. Seriously, I know I’m 26 years old, but people our age should be thinking about a lot of things like career, future plans and saving money and not worrying about getting into relationships which we are unsure of. In fact, it’s no. 3 in Relevant Magazine’s 11 Things to Know at 25(ish),

3. Don’t Rush Dating and Marriage

Now is also the time to get serious about relationships. And “serious” might mean walking away from a dating relationship that’s good but not great. Some of the most life-shaping decisions you’ll make during this time will be about walking away from good-enough, in search of can’t-live-without. One of the only truly devastating mistakes you can make in this season is staying with the wrong person even though you know he or she is the wrong person. It’s not fair to that person, and it’s not fair to you.