Curve Ball

When we least expect it, life sets up a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change.
-Paul Coelho

My challenge: Overcoming a relationship I finally realized I would never get back.

It finally occurred to me that after months (even years) of us going back and forth, always wondering if we’d ever get back together, that we never really would. By the time I really ended things, I was finally ready. It was the last straw. I was sick of beating around the bush, the stringing along, and the false promises.

My next challenge: Actually believing there are decent guys in the world.

Girls grow up thinking fairytales are actually true – that the prince in shining armor will fight dragons, cross deserts, and ultimately come rescue you (ha, I rhymed). Even modern day movies exemplify this notion with the overly-romantic man realizing in the end he would move mountains to be with the one he loved. We soon come to realize that the Disney fairytales and modern fairytales are nothing but a lie and the reality of it all presents itself: those men do not exist.

This was my logic the past three years. I honestly thought that there really were not decent guys out there, and if there were, they were already taken. I forced myself to believe that if a guy was being nice to me, he wanted one thing (and I think we can all use conductive reasoning and realize what I’m talking about). So when my now-boyfriend was being the nice guy that he is, I didn’t believe it. I thought he was honestly pulling my leg.

How sad is it that we get accustomed to guys (and girls) treating us like the gum squashed beneath a shoe, that when a genuine, honest person comes along, we’re hesitant to believe it all?

My willingness to change:
I had to change my perception and thinking. If I hadn’t, I would have pushed Anthony away, never giving him a chance. And even more unfortunate, I would never have been able to experience just how great of a guy he is.

Life pitches that curve ball and throws it straight at us. We have two options: test our courage and swing, or stand back cowardly and not swing, not knowing what could have happened. I almost didn’t swing, but I did and I don’t regret it for a second.