Fear of Love? Fear of Commitment?

Greetings all! Let's have a chat today about another topic: Fear.

The most common things we hear about as to why we're still single is fear. The most common fear? Fear of commitment. Your man or woman doesn't want to commit to you because they don't want to be tied down. They're afraid of missing out on life, opportunities, and all the like. You know. We've all seen it, so it's a very valid thing. But I think there's another fear that a lot of people tend to overlook.

Fear of falling in love itself.

I tend to suffer from this affliction. Love, real and true love, is a very frightening thing. It's like giving someone the key to your several hundred-thousand dollar car, and then trusting them to take it on a road trip across the country for a month without something bad happening to it. And in love's case, substitute "several hundred-thousand dollar car" with "heart." That's probably even looking at it lightly, too. Love is a very powerful thing, and someone who knows and understands that can understandably be quite frightened.

Just to give you a small personal example, I also suffer from what I like to call "ITA" syndrome.

"I'm"
"Too"
"Average"

At least, I often think this. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of confidence, and I think I look... okay. But a part of me deep down still has those insecurities about not being good enough for a woman. If I get into a relationship and we get close, intimate, or what have you, she may still end up finding and falling for someone better, leaving me high and dry after we've become so close.

I believe this is a fear that a lot of people have experienced, whether they know it or not. And I think it is keeping a lot of singles, well... single. We're not afraid of commitment. In fact, we're ready for commitment, because we understand exactly what it entails. We're just afraid of giving someone that power to hurt us. The power to basically break us with a single sentence.

I guess the only solution is to just take a risk. Put yourselves out there. And if you get hurt, well then... I guess you just have to remember that's life. Live, move forward, try to stay strong. And remember that, hopefully, you have your friends and/or family to lean on for support. It's okay, that's what they are there for.

"Love isn't about playing it safe. It's about risks. Unless you're willing to put yourself out there, you'll never know."