Romance is a different jungle

Valentine’s Day is coming up, and you know what that means. All the single individuals moan in self-loathing so loudly that the holiday loses all meaning, their misfortune on full display as they critique the love birds trying to celebrate. 

And you know what? I’m with them. 

Let’s be miserable people together because I have had enough of these fake relationships. 

I’ll be chilling, and a so called “couple” won’t interact with each other in the slightest. 

I’m no coward. I can take your PDA no problem. 

Now, you might be asking why I’d want to see that. 

Well, my judgmental friends, it’s because when these types of couples are around other people and not with each other, they sure don’t pull any punches on how much they flirt. 

It’s ridiculous. 

In the company of others that they are not dating, they’ll laugh and giggle as if a single sentence out of someone else’s mouth was the work of a comedic genius. 

Guess what? It wasn’t.

You’re talking about what’s for lunch. I assure you that it’s not worth fawning and teasing over. 

If you’re going to act like a flirt, then do it with the person you’re dating, not someone else.

It’s weird. It’s off-putting. And you know I’ll create a gossip column about it if you don’t stop. 

In all seriousness though, just as our impressions of people can quickly go sour from a few miscellaneous, negative thoughts, it’s incredible how quickly a relationship’s reputation on the surface can be tarnished by a few events. 

When a situation similar to what I described earlier was brought to my attention, I was urged to write an article about it, and as I thought about it, I realized how vapid it all was. 

At first, I’ll admit, I was hooked. Like any normal person, I have a gossip-o-meter, and it was going off when I heard the news. I wanted to dig into this couple’s personal life because it’s just that spicy. 

As someone who wears multiple hats depending on who I’m socializing with, I find it difficult to see differences in how one acts in front of their significant other versus a friend as much of anything. 

Depending on the personality of who we’re interacting with and the context we find ourselves in, it is only natural for us to change the ways we act. 

Often called self-monitoring in psychology, everyone lays on a spectrum ranging from those who change often to fit the situation they’re in and those who stick to their guns and rarely change. 

Of course, no one is going to interrupt the gossip train and proclaim that maybe the couple doesn’t seem outwardly flirtatious because it’s a part of a healthy, psychologically normal dynamic they’ve created. 

After all, that isn’t spicy. 

There needs to be underlying tones of drama, and believe me, I’m all for drama if it’s well-founded. 

As a result, I do think we need to be careful when we judge relationships, especially romantic ones.

There are a lot of nuances, a lot of hidden factors, and a lot of irrational rationalizing resulting in the most bafflingly overcomplicated logic of all time. 

In short, our perceptions of people and relationships can be simple, but they can also be a web of unnecessary detail whether it reflects reality or not. 

If we don’t know what’s under the hood, we may never know the truth, and we’ll remain ignorant bystanders.

So, this Valentine’s Day don’t be toxic, just be happy that at least you aren’t the couple being ridiculed.