If You’re Going To Fall In Love, Fall For The Person Who Terrifies You

Elliott Dunning

Life is too short to settle for anything less than big and beautiful love, too short to go for the ‘right’ girl, or the guy that you’re ‘supposed to be with.’ Life is too short to settle, to be unhappy, to sit around wishing for more or wondering if this is as good as it gets.

Life is too short to fall for people who don’t love you loudly, or for relationships that don’t set fire to your soul.

Our time on this earth is impermanent, and in the short years we must love fearlessly.

The best person for you is not always going to toe the line. He or she won’t come wrapped in a perfect package with a neatly-tied bow. He or she won’t smile politely or never speak out of turn or step aside to let you win every argument.

The person you’re meant to be with is not stoic and one-dimensional, seeing you as the center of the universe and bending his or her ways to accommodate yours.

The person you’re meant to be with will challenge you, will push you, will make you crazy and happy and confused, and show you what real, complicated love is.

The person you’re meant to be with will terrify you because they make you feel something.

So this is what you need to know about love—you must always chase the person who scares you. Don’t settle for comfort because it’s familiar. Don’t be content with what you know because there’s a world out there waiting for you. And life’s too short not to pursue that.

Fall for the person who terrifies you because they have new ways of looking at the world, because they are different, because there is some unexplainable connection that is pulling you back to him or her, no matter how much you try to deny it.

Fall for the person who terrifies you because you feel something when you look into his or her eyes. and because scary is a change, a challenge, and both of those things will help you grow.

Fall for the person who terrifies you because what the hell else is our purpose on this earth than to love and love foolishly, fearlessly, fully?

Life is too short to hold yourself back from feeling something deeply. Life’s too short to deny your heart the pleasure of falling into someone, and giving them your soul. Life’s too short to pretend that you’ll find love where it’s comfortable and easy, because in all reality, love will never be easy. And that’s the most beautiful part.

Life’s too short not to pursue people that scare you, because those people are the ones who will change your life. And we’re all searching for that love that will alter our entire lives.

It’s waiting for you, go get it. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

Marisa is a writer, poet, & editor. She is the author of Somewhere On A Highway, a poetry collection on self-discovery, growth, love, loss and the challenges of becoming.

Keep up with Marisa on Instagram, Twitter, Amazon and marisadonnelly.com

More From Thought Catalog