Maya Kachroo-Levine

Comparing yourself to people you think are doing life better than you are. People are not doing life “better” than you. People are moving at different paces all around you, and that is okay.

When you are on a team with a single parent, you are each other’s first line of defense. You are each other’s be all and end all. And you learn that no matter what happens, and no matter who else comes into their life, that you are always their number one.

Positivity. The great thing about the sun being out more often than not is that it really does boost your mood. Allow that positivity to run through you and influence your day in a good way as often as possible.

Bringing flowers. Again, it doesn’t matter who is bringing the flowers to whom, it’s the more the fact that it just isn’t a romantic gesture that happens much anymore. On Valentine’s Day? Yes. Anniversary? Maybe. But on a regular date? Not anymore.

Remember that you’ve already learned one very valuable truth: heartbreak isn’t forever and you have the power to grow and get over it.

Though this list probably won’t make you bilingual and you won’t walk away from it with enough linguistic knowledge to carry on a conversation in a non-English speaking country, it will satisfy you with interesting and potentially useless information.

You aren’t supposed to be with someone who likes the changed version of you. That isn’t what love should be built on.

Going to an event, a museum, a bar, or a movie by yourself, like a boss. Going places alone and not being worried about it is one of the most liberating social moves anyone can make.

Your first weekend away together. Your first road trip, and the memories of long talks in the car and playlists that stick in your head.

You really don’t want to meet anyone on an app. And it’s not that you don’t realize that it’s honestly similar to meeting someone randomly at a bar, you’re just sick of the endless swiping.

The friends who are always there for you. Devote your time to them, instead of aimlessly trying to spend time with people who make you worry that they won’t return your texts, or reciprocate your affection.

“He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.” — Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina