You’re sitting at home with nothing to do—so you check your Facebook. Automatically, you browse through the home page hoping to find something juicy or rather scandalous in today’s world. But that could mean anything, including seeing that your friend is in love, again. Surprise, surprise, a relationship that consisted of exactly one week is now classified as forever and always. Now, where are the wedding bells?

It seems that lately, anyone could come down with the Romeo and Juliet effect. Oh you know, the one where they meet—their eyes catching each others from across the room, sparks are flying—or maybe it’s cause the candle just lit up the curtain by the window. But they don’t notice that, all they see is each other. He sees her, and she sees him, and he sees her seeing him. Ah, love.

If you happen to be one of those love struck girls who showcase that love a little bit too much, then read on, don’t hate me, and implement the following tips into your life. And if you’re not an offender, then feel free to agree completely, all the while forcing your friend who currently has the love bug to read this. ASAP. 

Quit the mushy statuses already: I can’t tell you how much it irritates me to do my daily creep sesh of Facebook only to see that my cousin’s friends, who are thirteen, are apparently in “love.” Or so they say. These little younglings have Facebook statuses that go along the lines of, ‘I love you so much baby, you’re my one and only, forever and always.’ Uh, you’re thirteen; couldn’t you be classified as the baby in this situation? It doesn’t make sense that people are hurrying to fall in love, especially while being so young. Instead of racing to get out of high school—some teens are racing to the alter. You know what they say: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas—talk about a fun after-graduation trip. But if you definitely are an extreme offender of writing mushy Facebook statuses—then please, for the love of God, stop! Instead, text that super sweet, make-other’s-want-to-puke message to your boo boo bear (I would put boyfriend, but by some of the statuses I’ve seen—clearly boo boo bear fits).

So, you’re in head-over-heels-life-seems-like-it’s-all-bubblegum-and-rainbows kind of love? Cool story, bro. Tell me more. Actually wait, please don’t.

Think about if it’s really love. I have a friend who met her fiancé when she was just sixteen. After about a week, she was convinced that they were meant to be. You would have thought that “falling in love” would require actually getting to know the person, but these days some people seem to be skipping that part.

Now, it isn’t fair to say that all quickies of love turn bad, right? But if you’re young and convinced that you’re over the moon in love—then maybe take a step back to get your feelings in check. A lot of girls mistake love for lust, especially while it’s the beginning of a relationship and everything is in that perfect stage. Soon, those lovely flaws will come out, and your feelings might not still be all there. So just make sure that you’re not investing too much into something that could just be another silly, young romance.

Be careful about who you’re making your everything. In your group of friends, you’re bound to have had at least one girlfriend who suddenly goes MIA as soon as a guy enters her life. She starts to ditch you, she spends all her time with the chosen one, and she gets defensive when you try to talk to her about it. If this is you, then you need to make sure that the person who you’re making your everything is really all he seems to be. In truth, what’s going to happen if the relationship doesn’t work out? How will it feel when you make someone everything—only to have them become, well, nothing? That leaves us loyal, single friends to bring over the only men you’ll ever need: Ben and Jerry, chocolate mint flavored, and the new Cosmopolitan to have you feeling confident, which screams: I’m a strong, independent woman, hear me roar!

But, unfortunately, that’s not the case all the time. If you’re friends are easily forgiving, then they’ll stick with you even after Mr. Wonderful waltzes out of your life. But for some, you may have to do major damage control to repair the friendships that you used to have. Just remember, having a boyfriend is all about balance—balance for him, balance for your friends, balance for yourself and your life.

It is true that love happens, but if you’re on Facebook and feel like professing your love to the world—please don’t.  Next time you meet that amazing, funny, charming guy—please, take it slooowly. Don’t scare the guy away by professing your love to him at two o’clock in the morning outside of his window, Romeo/stalker style. Instead, keep it to yourself. You’ll be doing him, yourself, and all the other bitter singles of the world a huge favour.

So, next time you get bitten by the love bug, stay inside and lock the doors. Oh, and keep the computer turned off. The rest of the world doesn’t need to be infected.

By Sarah Kester | Photo: weheartit.com