The thing with love is that you always find it when you least expect it. Since there is this silly belief that happiness is affiliated with love, the mentality of finding it has changed.

People are in such a rush to find love instead of waiting patiently for it to find you. Chasing a relationship isn’t the answer. But it seems to be the easy solution our generation turns to because of this pressure.

If we’re such an ambitious generation, we should focus on so many other things to chase other than love, such as adventure, curiosity, dreams, and passions. But instead, we focus on chasing someone who will attract Instagram followers. And, not to mention, the right kind of gossip to catapult us socially. We’re chasing love purely for personal benefit in all the wrong ways. We don’t allow ourselves to enjoy the actual process of falling in love with a person.

We have to learn to wait instead of chasing it.

Sometimes no matter how hard we chase someone we just can’t catch them. Anyone you need to chase after is not worth catching. The right person will be waiting right there the whole time too. They’ll show up and everything in this world will feel right; it’ll be perfect. You won’t even fear them leaving because you’ll be that comfortable and confident.

If you have to chase someone to be with you or beg them with all of your guilt and hopes of change, they aren’t worth keeping around. It’s only prolonging the inevitable and creating a lot more issues than there needs to be. Additionally, it’s wasting your precious time and preventing you from meeting the one you’re supposed to be with.

Instead of chasing someone that may not belong in your life or even benefit you, you should take the time to appreciate and develop who you are and who you want to be. You can accomplish these by chasing the right things.

You should chase things that will make you become more established, insightful, meaningful, devoted, compelling, and bright. Chase moments that will take your breath away by the simplicity and beauty. Chase things to benefit yourself, not other people.

If you feel judged for your decision to allow some time to heal from past heartbreaks or just to spend some quality time by yourself, who cares? You can’t live your life based on an expectation or standard set by others. It’s your life, you have to make the calls. If it’s that big of an issue to someone else, maybe you need to cut those toxic and negative people out of your life. We have to trim the hedges before they can fully bloom, right?

Love will come along when the time is right and when you least expect it. Those moments where you stare at your soulmate and wonder ‘where did you come from’ will be so pure and genuine. You’ll be a million times happier you waited and allowed the universe to do its thing. A romantic partner will come after you fall in love with the world around you and the person you are becoming.

There are other things you should be chasing, and love isn’t one of them. I promise you, by chasing these other goals or traits, you will find a lifetime worth of happiness and joy. You will attract the right kind of love you want and deserve to have in your life.

While chasing your goals, listen to our podcast to help get you in the right mindset! Check it out on Sound Cloud or iTunes.

Originally written by Brittany Christopoulos

Unwritten is a family of writers who come together to share their stories. Whether you need a shoulder to cry on, a laugh to keep you going, or a place to keep you entertained, Unwritten is that best friend who is always there for you. As young adults, we get ourselves into a lot of messy situations, so our mission is to help you turn your messes into messages because if you can learn from your messes, so can others. Read more of our musings at http://www.readunwritten.com.