Hello, my friends! And a happy Friday to you all! I hope that your weekend is of to the most wonderful of starts, and without too much of my chatter, let’s get started on this blog post!
There once was a time, that lasted for quite some time, where I refused to admit to finding anything romantic. I exclaimed deep distaste for all things romantic — being given flowers, romantic comedies, and above all, sincerity of feelings. Who would ever admit to liking those things? Not me! When it was even hinted at that I had any resemblance to feelings of the romantic sort, I would get offended beyond belief. How dare they!
Goodness gracious. How silly was I? There are many things that could be seen as the root of it all, but I suppose the biggest one was my fear of sincerity. I’ve mentioned this in many a post, but it really did run my life when I was younger. As I’ve mentioned time and time again, I was the most sensitive of children, and as I hit my teens, I went all the way to the other side, being embarrassed by the depth of my feelings, even for silly, inconsequential things.
I wanted desperately to be a cool girl, and cool girls don’t have any feelings, right? They find romantic comedies trite, right? Being given flowers is completely unnecessary, RIGHT? I had that way of thinking embedded into my brain, for whatever reason.
Oh, my… Thinking of the way I used to be is exhausting. Nowadays, I let myself like romantic things, and to not feel the slightest bit of guilt in regards to it. So what if my heart flutters when I watch a John Hughes movie, and Andie FINALLY kisses her crush, Blaine? Why did I ever think that was something to be ashamed of?
I suppose that yes, I did want to be seen as a cool girl, but I also thought it was the only way that I could be seen as… seen as… oh, I don’t know, a girl that “wasn’t like other girls”. Yes, yes, I know. That’s a completely awful thing to think, but I felt that’s what I had to offer the world.It is also totally possible that I watched 500 Days of Summer too much.
And here is the thing, my friends. There are some women in the world who do not like romantic comedies, or being given flowers. And that is 100% fine. What is NOT fine is for us hopeless romantics to feel as though we have to scoff at all things romance to be found interesting, because that is NOT the case. AND it is also not a good thing for those among us who truly do not enjoy big gestures of romance to feel as though they must pretend that they do.
The right person for us will be like-minded and not mind if we shed a tear or two after we’ve listened to Elvis crooning, “For I can’t help, falling in love with you.” Instead, they’ll be touched by our sensitive hearts.
I cannot speak for those who are perhaps more practical than I am when it comes to romance, but I certainly can speak for myself. And I will go so far to say that I think that movies need to realize that it is GOOD to have a sincere love story. Not every love story needs to be filled with characters that are constantly making wise-cracks and not being sincere in the least! I’ve watched my fair share of bad romantic comedies to know that it’s something that seems to be done in the majority of modern movies.There’s enough harshness and ugliness in the world, why not allow ourself some romance and fluff in our movies?
And heck, let us have that attitude in our own life as well. Write love notes to our significant others, revel in getting flowers, and allowing ourselves to be sincere in all that we do. Romantic gestures look different for everyone, and I’m by no means trying to say that EVERYONE must be a hopeless romantic, I’m merely saying that I wish that it wasn’t seen as a negative thing for someone to be fond of all things romance. I understand why people are concerned about wearing their heart on their sleeves, but I really want to suggest that perhaps it’s not a bad thing to do.
Thank you so much for reading, friends!
XOXO,
Mattie Mae
Midwest mattie 