Love is one of the most beautiful things in the universe, but at the same time it sucks. It really sucks. Relationships are great, but can be so tough and hard to handle at times, but if you’re with the right person, everything will be okay. Now, love in general and relationships overall are both difficult things to find and grasp, but it can prove to be so wonderful and life changing when found. With dating though, that’s another story.

Dating, as in going out on dates with a special someone that makes you smile and perks your ears up a bit is tough. It’s not easy. In fact, it’s so hard and nerve-wracking that the first date especially is proven to be one of the hardest days to get through. Not because of the date itself, but rather yourself and all of the stress you put yourself in and through.

Leading up to that day that is filled with both excitement and fear, being calm is most definitely the best solution, but guess what? That never happens, at least not for me. Instead, I find myself trying to act all cool and collected, but really I’m freaking out on the inside and outside. I’ll continuously ask myself and friends if my outfit looks okay even when on any given day of the week, I couldn’t care less on how I look. I make sure I don’t say anything stupid or eat anything messy and try to be myself, but am I really being myself? Personally, that’s something we all sometimes forget to do. Just be yourself.

Recently, I had the opportunity to go on a date again. It had been a while and boy, was I nervous. All day long, my friends were sure to be annoyed with my badgering of how I look and whether or not I’m funny or if she even likes me. It wasn’t until later in the day when a friend looked at me and said, “she said yes to going out on a date with you, she has to at least tolerate you.” That is when I realized, I had no need to sweat or to worry because she took the pain away by saying yes. She had already resolved the hardest part which is the asking.

From there on out, I became excited and ready for what was only a few hours away at that point in time. The night went splendidly and was so much fun. Laughs and smiles were shared and this made me wonder, “Why did I freak out so badly for something that was so nice?”

The entire day, there I was, behaving like a buffoon because I was so worried when it hadn’t even clicked to me that there was no need to. The pain, the pressure, the panicky sweat (actually that didn’t fully leave) were all swept away and never seen again (of course, besides the sweat).

As I realized and have since thoroughly thought about this phenomenon of her saying yes, I have come to a realization that no one should ever worry. If they said yes, then there’s a good chance that they probably like you at least a little bit. There’s no need to become petrified over what will most likely not happen, but instead focusing on the events that will occur such as to what to ask them and simply just being yourself.

Even with the late realization, I knew that all I had to do was be myself and just be happy that she said yes. The answer could have been no, and I have thought about that a lot recently up until now. There is no need to think about what may have happened. What happened has happened and may it be for the best.

There isn’t a need to stress and become full of panicky sweat (it wasn’t that bad) over events and situations that didn’t occur. Everything went great, the night was wonderful, the food was delicious, and I got to know someone better. That makes me smile.

First dates suck sometimes, but when you realize that there really isn’t a need to worry then you have all the time to focus on being yourself. Always remember, they said yes when they easily could have said no. They want to be there and are interested just like you are in them.