![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/1636871293_751_98990487-happy-sporty-woman-hugging-herself-with-natural-emotional-enjoying-face-love-concept-of-yourself-bod-696x696.jpg\" "\\"Happy")
The first time I was ever aware of being cheated on, I didn\u2019t care that much.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As relationships go, ours was still relatively new\u00a0and I wasn\u2019t all that sure about my overall commitment at that point. <\/p>\n
When I learned about it\u00a0I was off on a trip\u00a0and so the impact didn\u2019t really hit until I saw her again. When I did, feelings of disgust and betrayal came flooding in.<\/p>\n
Little did I know, it\u00a0wouldn\u2019t be the last time I\u2019d be cheated on.\u00a0Over the years, a number my of relationships ended up with me being cheated on and being a victim of cheating in a relationship,\u00a0including one engagement.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After a while, I wondered if I was a magnet for misfortune, but when I stopped feeling sorry for myself\u00a0I realized something wonderful: the freedom of being single brings with it the benefit of knowing no one is cheating on you.<\/p>\n
On the surface, that sentiment\u00a0might sound a bit depressing but it really isn\u2019t. Relationships aren\u2019t for everyone, and most of the pain in life comes from trying to shoehorn oneself into situations that simply shouldn\u2019t be. <\/p>\n
Once I figured out my type, I also learned through tremendous amounts of trial and error that my type likes to be free. So why shouldn\u2019t I be?<\/p>\n
We\u2019re conditioned to\u00a0spend our lives chasing after \u201cthe one,\u201d\u00a0and more often than not, the harder we search for that person\u00a0the more they simply never show up\u00a0\u2014\u00a0or we mistake people for the one when they should be \u201cone of.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Being single and dating brings a level of comfort to my life\u00a0where I\u2019m shielded from the bitter notion of investing my time and heart into someone who turns around\u00a0and stabs\u00a0me in the back with their infidelity.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re still with me to this point, you might think\u00a0that maybe being scorned, used, and abused tainted\u00a0me.\u00a0That I wouldn\u2019t be so jaded if I had the love of my life right next to me.\u00a0Not necessarily so. <\/p>\n
As I mentioned earlier, much of the pain in life comes from trying to force situations. Much of this comes as a result of preconceived notions of what relationships \u201cshould\u201d be.<\/p>\n
Many affairs come as a result of one or both partners failing to live up to the fantasy set forth by what a perfect union should look and feel like.<\/p>\n
With cheating, the story is usually the same. Sometimes it happens because of\u00a0neglect and inattention; sometimes it happens because the relationship\u2019s gone\u00a0past its natural expiration date. And instead of splitting up and finding new people, you\u00a0choose to exist as virtual roommates if you\u2019re married, or simply live in pointless denial if you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n
So many of my friends and acquaintances are going through their first and even second divorces because of infidelity, largely brought on by a simple desire by one of the parties to sleep with other people. <\/p>\n
The same goes for relationships where I\u2019ve had to listen to horror stories of finding out that the person who was supposed to be their \u201cforever\u201d was doing the forever with someone else.<\/p>\n
Hearing those stories like a broken record only makes me feel better about being single. Maybe this won\u2019t always be the case. Maybe someday my true princess will come\u00a0and said\u00a0princess will be all-in because I\u2019ll be all in.<\/p>\n
And after all the crap\u00a0that comes from surviving infidelity, I\u2019ll finally do things to keep the fires burning\u00a0until we have our\u00a0Notebook<\/em>\u00a0moment\u00a0where we die within minutes of one another and float up to whatever resembles Heaven, where our spirits will dance together into infinity.<\/p>\n I just hope to hell the grass isn\u2019t greener on the other side of Heaven. I might be screwed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n