To the Girl Who’s Always the One Who Got Away

I know it’s hard.

You wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, trying to find traces of yourself again. You question everything you thought you knew, because their recklessness made you doubt yourself again.

Your face looks no different, but there’s sadness in your eyes. Another love lost, another victim of love’s lies.

You see, they tell you to work on yourself to become a better woman, and you do.

They tell you to love yourself first, and that’s a little harder to do, but you do.

It may be an every day battle, but you get up ready to fight, because you know this world means nothing without some sacrifice.

What they don’t tell you is the pain that comes with being a woman of value in a world full of men who don’t know what to do with you.

That’s not fair to say, not all men are the same. But believe me when I say, many are deep in this game.

Let us win this girl over, swoon her with our words. Shower her with love & promise, until a new girl enters our world.

Then we’re thrown out like an old toy, and we’re told not to be sad. Why mourn the love of a boy you never really had?

When did we become so savage? Treating people like things, forgetting common decency and disregarding people’s feelings.

To the girl who’s always the one who got away, I know it’s hard.

They say you’re such a catch, but you haven’t been caught so far.

They say they’re not ready, because timing isn’t right. They’re still having fun, and you’re the settling down type.

When did that become a bad thing? Getting punished for being whole. Being pushed aside because you dare people to get in touch with their soul.

I know it’s not easy, but don’t take it personally. Sometimes a good woman is a bet they’re not willing to take when it could change everything.

But here’s the secret about women like you and me. We never escape the minds of men like these.

They can go years chasing after flings and distractions, but there comes a time when they face its dissatisfaction.

And these very men begin to crave substance and maturity, and that’s when they begin to remember women like you and me.

We may have been passed on by hands too weak to hold us, but our memory will taint the women who follow us.

To the girl who’s always the one who got away, I know it’s hard. But when you look in the mirror, forget those who hurt your heart.

You are exactly who you’re supposed to be. You are everything right in a world of crippling uncertainty.

And one day, you won’t be the girl who got away, because the right man for you is the one who comes and stays.

This post was first published on The Problem With Dating.