The Oldest Trick In The Book

Breakups are tough man, but shaving your head, going blonde and getting your nose pierced, yeeeesh.

---

     What do Zayn Malik and I have in common? It’s a question I get asked a lot and I have decided to answer it once and for all, to set the record straight. Aside from the obvious things such as ravishingly good looks, professionally trained singing voices, over 15 million Twitter followers and not being part of One Direction, we both decided at a pretty young age that we thought we knew who we wanted to be with for the rest of our lives. Emphasis on the word thought, as in past tense, meaning not anymore.

      My boy Zayn and I thought we had it made. OKAY maybe he isn’t actually “my boy” and yeah okay I admit I used his name to get you to read this far and yeah yeah I wasn’t actually engaged where as he was and yeah yeah yeah I was lying about ONE of the things we have in common, but I promise it wasn’t the last thing. Moral of the story: being in love is awesome, it’s great, it gives you purpose, it makes you smile without even being aware of it, gives you credibility and most of all it gives you happiness and likes on Instagram.

      However, it also makes you unbelievably stupid, naive, blind, biased, and exhausted. Now I’m not trying to be negative and bash on the people in their early 20s who have been with their significant others for years and are going strong, my sister met her husband when she was 20 and they got married 9 years later. Nor am I being bitter because things didn’t end up working out as planned. I am just being honest.

     For every happy ending there are a dozen not so happy ones and I’ve made a lot of the textbook mistakes one can make when they are under the influence of one the strongest forces known to mankind. If there is one thing I learned from my four year foray into the world of the long-term-relationship, it’s that above all, KNOW what is right for you, not what you THINK is right for you. Don’t force and convince yourself that you want something, if you really do then you won’t ever second guess it and you won’t find yourself losing sleep over your predicament.

     “The person you are when you are 18 is not the person you will be when you are 24”. My mom told me that when I came to her while she was gardening one evening the summer I turned 18 and said I had a girlfriend. “Know that what makes you happy now isn’t necessarily what will make you happy several years down the line, but I will support you no matter what” she continued. That is one piece of advice that I will never ever forget and I kept thinking back to her words when 4 years later I gave her the sad news.

     Me and Zayn may have nothing in common, but we were both human beings who fell for the oldest trick in the book.

Love.

The Underwoods, redefining relationship goals since 2013.