column by Amanda Fisher |

If you know anything about me, what I am about to say may come as a complete and utter shock: do not, I repeat, do not take high school relationships too seriously. That is right, I said it.

Though it may come as a surprise, high school is more than seven never-ending hours. High school is when you define who you are for the future. It is the time of your life when you can rightfully become as selfish as possible. However, if you are in a relationship for say, three years or so, you are not entitled to that same freedom and selfishness.

Everything begins to revolve around the significant other and their wants and needs far before your own. Before you know it, you will have graduated and have no life plans aside from a possible marriage that will probably last seven months, and after that you will have nothing. What is best is to focus on yourself, be who you want to be in life, pursue your dreams and then meet your Adam Levine-looking-dream man and fall in love.

However, am I saying I do not want to fall in love now? Eh, been there, done that. Trust me. Like my good friend Carrie Bradshaw once said, “I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that’s just fabulous.”