Love, the real kind, is never simple.
It is the one thing that makes life worth it in the end,
and something that wonderful and sought-after is never going to be easy to get.
You have to work for it.
Blood, sweat, and tears.
So if it’s easy, yeah maybe you won’t get broken.
But you won’t be truly happy, either.
You’ll be settling.
Don’t get me wrong,
There are lots of things in life that are totally acceptable to settle on.
Sure, Harvard was your dream school.
But you know what?
Going to your state school because its more affordable
Will still get you where you want to be in life.
And I know the hairdresser couldn't match the color you showed her,
But you are beautiful and can rock it anyway, so don’t worry.
But love?
Settling in love is like buying a pair of shoes that are a size too small,
Just because you thought they were pretty.
They may look nice,
But you are dying on the inside. I
f you had just held out a bit longer,
You would have found a pair just as beautiful that fit well, too.
Maybe that nice guy looks good on paper,
But if he doesn’t give you butterflies whenever he looks at you,
Don’t be with him.
You want someone who makes you fall for them every day,
Not just once.

Walking up and down the street, just like we used to,
Holding hands, holding conversations, holding each other in our hearts.
Now I walk that same street alone,
Holding nothing, holding emptiness, holding memories in my heart.
Memories of how we used to be, back when we were in love,
Holding everything together, never standing alone.
Then things changed, but we tried to fight it,
Holding on to something that was already too far gone to save.
So now I walk that same street alone, holding on to the knowledge that we can never get that back, Holding on to the love that's not worth holding on to anymore.

I wish relationships worked like they did when we were younger.
I like you, you like me,
Let’s be together.
No games, no worries, just love.
Obviously, that love we felt back then wasn’t love love.
It wasn’t the kind people write books and make movies about.
Such a simple story would never sell copies or tickets.
But love is still love, no matter what form it’s in.
So let the movies have heartbreaking tales,
Star-crossed lovers doomed to fail from the moment they met.
I want love like a six-year-old,
Where a boy pulls your hair and says you have cooties.
And your mom wipes your tears,
Saying it’s only because he likes you.
And sure enough, the next day you two are married on the playground.
I want love like sixth grade,
Where your friends all giggle about your crush.
But you like him anyway,
Because he thinks you’re pretty despite the frizzy hair and braces.
So you become a couple,
Holding hands at recess and sitting together at lunch.
After that things become complicated.
People play games,
Saying one thing and doing another.
Love is no longer straightforward.
It becomes a roller coaster ride that you’re not even sure you want to be on anymore.

I never thought moving on from you would be this hard.
I told you that we could be friends, and I truly meant that.
But why do you have to keep making it so hard to forget,
Those three months where I spent every night in your arms,
Laughing and loving like I never have before?
I don’t love you like I used to,
But any form of it is still love at the core,
And that doesn’t just go away.
You were the first person
To break down your own walls along with mine,
And rely on me like I have on everyone else.
But you have someone else now,
So why can’t you be content with that?
There’s a fine line between joking and being serious,
And sometimes it’s hard to tell which side you’re on when
You tell me to come over and be with you like I used to.
Don’t you have her for that?
You made it pretty clear when you chose her over me.
Not that I’m spiteful or heated about it,
But that is the honest truth.
So call her at two in the morning when you’re feeling lonely,
Because you don’t have me for that anymore.

Love doesn’t make everything better, not always.
Especially when it’s with someone who isn’t right for you,
At least not at the time.
It can consume you,
Making you feel like that person is necessary for every breath you take,
Like your heart would stop beating if you didn’t have them.
So when love doesn’t work out,
It really does seem like the end of the world.
Waking up in the morning feels impossible, '
The world unbearable because that person isn’t around anymore.
But life goes on, eventually.
As time goes by, it’ll get easier to get out of bed
Without feeling like you’re going to break into pieces.
Then maybe you’ll be able to go a whole day without thinking about them.
But no matter how long you can hold it together,
There are always moments.
Maybe you’re in the car,
And a song comes on that reminds you of them.
Or you’re in bed alone,
And you suddenly remember how it felt to have them lying beside you,
Holding each other as you fell asleep.
It’ll hurt,
And you’ll sit there and miss them.
The moment will pass and life will go on,
But it still happened,
And you’ll remember it.
Because when you love someone, truly love them,
It never goes away, not really.
You may not be together, or even be in each others’ lives anymore.
Hell, one or both of you could be perfectly happy with someone else.
But they will always hold a piece of your heart.
After all, you gave it to them for a reason, '
You can’t just take it back.

I don’t regret breaking up with you,
Because our relationship wasn’t a healthy one,
Not for me.
But I also don’t regret loving you.
Love isn’t something you should ever regret.
It is one of the most beautiful and rewarding things in the world,
Even when it is for someone who really doesn’t deserve it.
I don’t doubt that you meant it when you said you loved me,
Because I think that you thought you did.
Love just didn’t mean the same thing to you that it did to me.
And that’s okay.
Everyone loves differently.
It may not be easy to understand why people act the way they do,
When they claim to have such deep feelings for you,
But I guess it just comes down to trusting that love works in mysterious ways. Maybe we didn’t work out,
But I learned a lot from you.
I learned how to appreciate someone who truly deserves my love.
I learned that you can’t force someone into a relationship
Because you have unrealistic expectations for what the two of you could be.
We were simply a summer fling that got dragged out too long
Because love meant different things to us.
I’m writing this now because you texted me last night,
And I’ve spent the past 24 hours thinking about “what-ifs” and “if-onlys”
And then I realized that I don’t really miss you anymore.
I still love you,
Because love isn’t something that just goes away.
The only difference is that I love you for who you are
And for what you taught me,
Rather than for who I wanted you to be.
So I want to thank you,
Because even though you hurt be badly,
You taught me more about love
Than a thousand good relationships ever could.

I thought that maybe laying in someone else’s arms
Was all it would take to get you off of my mind.
But with his lips on mine and his hands on my hips,
I saw that it would take much more than that to forget.
Random nights with strangers aren’t a replacement
For someone who meant the world to you.
It took me many months to figure that out,
Months of nights I regret and boys I don’t remember.
Lust doesn’t compensate for love,
And casual conversation can’t compare to a best friend.
So I decided to work on myself,
Love myself enough that I don’t need you anymore.
And you know what? It worked.
I gave myself the love that you never deserved,
The love I see you could have never given me.
This whole time I thought I needed you
To make my life complete and happy but
You can’t expect other people to make you happy;
True happiness comes from within.