Ahna Writes World

We've all experienced it: rejection, the underbelly of romantic love.  When we put ourselves out there in the dating world, there is a very real possibility that we might be rejected by the one we desire.  It hurts, and that's why we try to protect ourselves.  We build walls, we pretend, and sometimes we lie to ourselves. I have always tried to avoid rejection.  I am the one to call it quits when a relationship goes stale, I very rarely make the first move, and, in the beginning, I let my partner take the lead in texting, calling, etc.  I guess you could say that my rejection threshold is pretty low because of this--I have rarely put myself out there without knowing the other person was there with me fully. Recently, I experienced a dramatic, disrespectful form of rejection.  One that ended with me walking out of an argument in tears.  I had to ask myself after this dramatic scene, what's with the dishonesty?  Being rejected hurts, and so does...

"The relationship you have with yourself is the most important relationship you'll have in the world,"  Nick said as his baby blue eyes fixated on mine.  I think he realized that for me (as for many of us) this relationship would be the longest and most volatile of my life.  My deep brown eyes allowed him to  see  me as I realized,  all love stems from the relationship you have with you. Morning run with Nick, he found the path to love I met Nick in Luxor, Egypt abruptly, as he immediately asked me my name, remembered it, and skillfully skipped the small talk, digging deep into conversation.  He's an eloquent storyteller and will reveal reminiscent anecdotes that will make you laugh, cry, and laugh so hard you cry.  Within a few minutes of meeting Nick, I found myself sitting with him in a group of seven other travelers from around the world.  We sat on the ground on colorfully patterned cushions and drank different varieties of alco...

"Then I (said) 'do you want to kiss me?'" Li Na smiled and looked off into the distance as she spoke to me, taking herself back to the moment of their first kiss.  "Then he looked at me like a baby and he (said), 'Yea, why not' so then I gave him a little kiss." We were sitting at an outdoor cafe with our 'mocktails' made fresh from local fruit.  Li Na led me into her love story with Hisham, a Palestinian man she met in Jerusalem. " I didn't really know if I was doing wrong because this is really bad in the culture and also I don't want him to be too attached to me ," she said.  "I (kept) saying...if you're going to be too emotional, I can't and I don't want to hurt you and he was like, 'no that's fine I know what I'm doing,' but he didn't know what he was doing.  And to be honest I didn't know what I was doing either." I met Li Na at a hostel in Aqaba, a small beach town ...