As Told By Alizen(:

As a teenager, one of the greatest accomplishments of your high school life probably centers around a perfect GPA, social standings, and a successful relationship. And like most teenage singer songwriters, Taylor Swift just so happens to be a veteran. Known for her sappy songs about chearleaders with short skirts and songs about slamming screen doors, what makes her a successful artist is not because of her lyrical lines -believe me, if I wanted to hear a song about real love and loss I would have gone elsewhere (sorry Taylor!)- but because of the message her songs seem to convey: teenage infatuation.

Imagine a scenario in which your best friend miraculously happens to land a date with her crush of over two years, Mr. X (for lack of a better name). Immediately following the aforementioned date, you being the good friend decide that listening to this rather fortunate event will work to your advantage. After what seems to be less than a week’s worth of time, your friend decides to switch her facebook status to “in a relationship.” You begin to question the validity of this new-found pairing. Sure, the two seem to be in a state of pure bliss, but a relationship clearly can’t blossom after one week, or even a status update. And the problem is not because of the eagerness these two lovebirds seem to express towards each other, but because of their foolish fantasies of love and everything that comes with that glorious package. You see, Rome was not built in one day. Evidently, neither does a relationship. If good things take time, then time is something we should invest. And yet it’s that simple piece of knowledge teenagers seem to overlook.

In the dog-eat-dog environment that is high school, a reputation is everything. And dating a football player (or anyone with that stature) is the surefire way of achieving the upmost rung on the social ladder. This, however, does not necessarily pertain to teenagers, as I’m sure it’s human nature to date someone with moderately decent looks, a body that constantly requires the use of the local fitness gym for maintenance, an irregular dose of narcissism and a vacant lot in the upstairs department. ANYWAYS, stepping aside from the rude stereotyping (and I truly do apologize to those of you football players who happen to maintain a decent GPA) the point is, many teenagers date others not because of overall personality and interest, but because of rather shallow reasons. If we were wise enough to disregard the pressure to be someone we’re not, perhaps -and this may be quite a shocker to some people- we may actually end up having a relationship that would last longer than a season.

If there’s anything worse than absolute rejection, it’s the continuous game of mixed signals. And the real question here seems to be, when do we know when someone is being intentional with their actions and when do we act on it? Even I don’t have a clever retort to this question, but I do know that rushing into things too soon will not only hurt you, it will ruin any chances of friendship you had previous to such irrational behavior. Good things take time, and when we take the time to sort out our options, answers become more evident. The mistake we teenagers seem to have is not that we are so reckless with our feelings, it is that we tend to act on impulses because we are so desperate to immerse ourselves in something we only hear about in storybooks and overrated movies.

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Regardless, our inexperience is not to blame. If anything, we can point the finger towards puberty and the raging hormones inside us. Suffice to say, a relationship is not something we can easily bank on, or hope to form in a matter of seconds. In order to save ourselves from wasting time (and several boxes of Kleenex tissues) we must take into account the countless variables we’re faced with, be it mixed signals or rushed feelings. I’d advise you to refrain from participating in such a ludicrous act, but who am I to deny you of such a gratifying experience? Love is a strange yet beautiful virtue. It’s up to you to make the most of it.