I tend to stray on the unrealistic side of things. I’m a dreamer, what can I say? When I fall for someone, I fall hard and immediately start thinking about what the future could hold with them. I realize this is not the healthiest perspective to always hold, but at times I can’t help it. Once you become a “hopeless romantic” it is hard to change that. However in eleventh grade I started to realize it might save me from getting as hurt if I started to look at things more realistically. I was in my first real relationship and I could tell it was coming to an end as much as I didn’t want it to. It was around this time I rediscovered an old song I used to listen to on repeat while I was in middle school. Back then, I didn’t listen as much to the lyrics but listening to it again I realized the message it was sending and it was just what I needed to hear at the moment.
    The song was “Chances” by Five For Fighting, and unlike myself, it took the more realistic side of relationships. It basically had the attitude that I needed to have and still need to have, but still find it hard to. In this song the guy is involved with a girl and they both are very into each other and obviously want what they have to work out. However, the guy seems to realize he can’t get too ahead of himself and get his hopes too high because eventually they will likely grow apart from each other and go their separate ways. This was basically what was happening to me with my ex, and this song helped me to realize that no matter how much I can dream about what I want to happen, I need to focus on what is happening and let it go if it needs to go. In fact, one of my favorite lyrics from this song is “nothing lasts forever no matter how it feels today”. I really don’t think that line could be more true; in the moment with someone you may be able to see a whole future with them, but it is likely that down the road something will change and that “forever” that you dreamed about will come crashing down with reality.
    However, the last part of this song focuses on those rare occasions when this person you’re with now does turn out to be your future and all you dreamed of. There are those instances when that happens, and it happens because you took a chance on it. Whether or not you are a dreamer or a realist, you need to take chances in life to find love. It does help to keep things in perspective so it hurts less if it doesn’t work out, but there is always the possibility it will work out. As the song ends, “chances are waiting to be taken…” and those chances waiting for us could turn out to be what we’ve always dreamed of.