Ryan ChartrandI know a girl. She used to be amazing, but then she got dumped and it seems like her whole life fell apart. I mean she’s intelligent, good looking and used to have a life, but now all she talks about is her ex-boyfriend.
She, like so many other college students I know, thought she found the love of her life and just can’t seem to bounce back to reality now that it’s gone.
According to dating experts reported by MSN, there are seven main considerations on which couples should have similar views in order for their relationship to be long-lasting.
Many of these characteristics are still being developed as we go through college. We are at a point where we are still figuring out, and constantly changing, exactly what we want in life. While not impossible, it’s unrealistic to expect that every love encounter you have is “the one,” and therefore it is absolutely absurd to be devastated after every breakup.
Experts say that considerations necessary for long-term love are similar views on physical appearance, emotional maturity, lifestyle choices, financial beliefs, overall values, sex and marriage, and intelligence.
In simple terms experts are saying that for a long-term relationship to work you as an individual have to know how you want to spend money from the real job that you don’t have yet, how you want to raise the kids who probably aren’t born yet, and exactly who you want to be when you actually advance into the real world.
Then you have to find someone else who also has it all figured out and believes in similar things. Now I’m not saying it will never work out, but I am saying that if it doesn’t, maybe you weren’t really ready for it to work in the first place.
There are some in the college-aged demographic who are completely lost and there are some who probably have life all figured out, but the vast majority of us seem to fall somewhere in the middle.
I don’t know about you, but I’m still trying to figure out where I should apply for an internship and what I want to do for spring break this year, not the future fate of children I don’t have or what to do with money that definitely isn’t in my bank account yet.
And besides, according to recent United States census figures, 44 percent of adults are currently single. That’s approximately 100 million unattached new people that you can meet and date; who knows, one might eventually be “the one.”
Don’t end up like that girl I know, miserable and incapable of conversation without reference to “the ex,” because college is too short and we are too young to be that heartbroken.
The way I see it, it’s college, get over it. Too many college students take the loss of a relationship too seriously. Realistically, relationships can end only one of two ways: you either get married or you break up. So if this one doesn’t work out, don’t sweat it because it was only a fifty-fifty chance to begin with.
Coral Snyder is a journalism junior and a Mustang Daily reporter.