Modern life is a pretty crazy thing. You have so many more options and opportunities than women who came before you, and yet sometimes that’s kind of a bad thing. Or at least it drives you crazy on a regular basis. The truth is that you have a lot to be thankful and grateful for in your life and you totally know it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have your options and thoughts and feelings, and that doesn’t mean that sometimes, you’re just not super sure how you feel about something. It’s not that you’re an indecisive person (okay, you kind of are), it’s just that life is hard and confusing and tricky, and at the end of the day, some things just aren’t super clear. Here are 15 things you have a love/hate relationship with. You might never figure out which option you’re leaning toward more, but hey, that’s okay. That’s totally your right.
15Dating
Yup, you totally aren’t sure how you feel about dating. On the one hand, you’re single and wanting to find love, so yeah, making a point of going on dates definitely seems like a good idea. On the other hand, you’re tired of going on boring and bad dates that don’t get you anywhere. So yeah, the struggle is seriously real, and its’ not going to get simpler anytime soon, that’s for sure. You know that you want a relationship eventually so you may as well up your chances by going on dates, so you’re definitely not giving up anytime soon, and you’re going to keep putting yourself out there. But hey, no one said that you had to love the whole process. You don’t. You have a love/hate relationship with dating and you’re never going to change. You just want to find someone already so you can stop going on first dates.
14Holidays
Yeah, you love holidays. Most of them, at least. You’re all about Thanksgiving since hey, it’s a holiday that is completely devoted to good food and that can’t ever be a bad thing. And you obviously love Christmas because, well, it’s Christmas. But at the same time, you don’t love all the stress that comes along with the holiday season… and the fact that you usually get some pretty bad colds around both of these times of year. It’s all the running around and stressing out and gift buying. You swear every year you will take more time off and rest a bit more but then you don’t and then you get sick. It’s a viscous cycle and it never seems to end. So yeah, while you love the holidays, you don’t love how tired and burnt out they make you feel. And would it really be too much to ask for your relatives to be somewhat nice and normal this year?!
13Taking Care Of Yourself
Of course, you love taking care of yourself. You totally and completely understand that if you don’t rest and relax on a regular basis, you’re going to get burnt out. And you’re going to get sick. You might even get a constant stream of bad colds that never seem to go away… and as soon as you think you’re over one, you get another bug. Ugh. But the thing is that sometimes it’s hard to rest, especially when you’re used to your busy schedule. You get bored watching hours upon hours of TV (even though you pretty much live for TV, so yeah, this kind of confuses you) and you want to do more and make more social plans and work more and work out more and do all these things, essentially. But you get that you need to work some self-care into your weekly routine. It’s a real love/hate thing that is probably never going to go away.
12Grooming
Okay, so it’s not like you think that personal hygiene is optional or anything crazy like that. You absolutely shower on a daily basis and wash your hair regularly enough, and yeah, you want your nails to look pretty good, too. You also shave in a whole lot of places since you work out regularly and you don’t want people in your spin or barre or yoga class to see your underarm or leg hair. That’s just common sense. But you totally have a love/hate relationship with grooming because while you do it, you don’t love it. It kind of sucks. It can hurt sometimes, it’s uncomfortable, it’s boring and it can even get a little bit gross (even if you’re only grossing yourself out). But hey, it’s got to be done. So grooming is really just a necessary evil at this point that you’re learning to live with. You would just rather not think about it.
11Being Sick
No one likes being sick. That would be nuts. Like completely nuts. But when you’re healthy and running around like a crazy person, you tend to wish that you could get a mild cold or something so that it would force you to rest. You know that you should take more time off but you’re too interested in being productive to even entertain that idea. Then, of course, you do get sick… and you hate it. You absolutely hate it. You’ve never been more depressed or miserable and you wish that you felt better so you could get back to your normal routine. You miss the gym, your friends, your job, and even being able to eat healthy food and actually taste it. You have zero taste buds anymore and you really, really miss those, too. It may sound crazy that you sometimes dream of being sick because you get to rest and watch as much television as you want, but hey, you’re just being real here.
10Reality TV
Yup, you love reality TV. You have your list of shows that you never, ever miss a single episode of and you love to discuss the trials and tribulations and drama with your best friends. You just live for the drama of these people’s lives. But at the same time, you kind of hate reality TV because you feel kind of guilty and ashamed for loving it so much. There’s a reason that people consider these types of TV shows to be guilty pleasures, after all. Society totally wants you to feel guilty about this. So sometimes you do. And then you hate the fact that you’re so into it and that you love watching these shows so much. It’s tough to stand up for yourself and tell everyone that yes, you understand that reality shows aren’t always super real and that there are some silly and superficial people on them but hey, you like them. So you have a real love/hate relationship with this genre.
9Your Birthday
Everyone loves birthdays so, of course, you’re no different. It’s amazing to have an entire day of each year devoted to you. Plus you get gifts and cake and you get to see all your beloved friends, and that’s never a bad thing. Yeah, birthdays pretty much rule. But there’s a little problem with birthdays: they signal that you’re a year older. Ugh. Double ugh. If only there was a way not to age but to still celebrate your birthday. Now that’s something that they really need to invent and soon. So while you love your birthday — like more than you can even say — you hate it too because it means that you’re an entire year older. Everyone has an age that they wish they could stay forever and ever. For some, it’s 18 because you’re almost a grown-up but you don’t have as many responsibilities yet and for others, it’s 25 because that’s really the sweet spot. You’re still young and cool but not too old yet. But unfortunately, you do age, and you just have to get used to that.
8Travel
Yeah, you love to travel and you’re pretty much always dreaming of a beach vacation… or a fun trip to an amazing city. You always want to make time for fun and travel because hey, you work hard and you deserve it. A girl needs to have some down time every once in a while. But then there’s the actual traveling. And that can suck sometimes. You hate that traveling means being inconvenienced, that you have to deal with crappy stuff like delays and that sometimes you get so upset that you kind of ruin part of the trip. So if you have a love/hate relationship with travel, then don’t worry because you’re not alone there. And not even by a long shot. If only you could snap your fingers and magically end up in your preferred city or destination. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Then you could have the whole vacation part of the equation without having to get there first.
7Your Phone
Yes, you love your phone. It’s amazing and it’s basically our entire world. There’s a reason it’s called a smartphone, after all. But you also kind of hate it. Because it’s your entire world. You wish that you could just lock it away sometimes and not have to look at it for an entire day or two. Of course, you can do that — it’s a free country and you can do whatever you want (within reason). But you would be afraid of missing something. You’re straight-up addicted to your phone, text messages, emails, and social media feeds, there’s no doubt about it. You know that this is super true and you don’t even try to deny it anymore. It doesn’t really help that everyone else you know feels this way about their phones, too. It means that a simple dinner plan with friends means everyone checks their phones way too much and that you can’t ever really unplug.
6Parties
There’s nothing like a party to make you wonder what you think about life in general. Sure, you think that parties are fun. Most people think that. But the thing about parties is that they’re only fun in theory. Yes, really. Whether you’re throwing one or attending one, there are so many things that can go wrong. There won’t be enough food. People will get way too drunk and act like total idiots. Your ex will be there (and with his new girlfriend — yikes). You don’t have as much fun as you thought you would… or any fun at all, really. You have no one to talk to because your friend is super late (even though she swore she would actually be on time) and then the people that you do talk to are either super boring or really conceited. It’s just a perfect storm and it never goes too well. And when you’re the host, it’s even worse, because people are so late you wonder why you even had a start time at all, and then, of course, people flake last-minute and cancel on you.
5Opening Up
The thing is that you want to be an honest and open person, especially with your best friends. But sometimes, you have a love/hate relationship with opening up and telling them your deepest, darkest secrets and thoughts and feelings. That is because sometimes, you end up in a worse mood than you were before if a simple Friday night drinks plan turns into a total share-fest. It is not that you do not want them to get to know you better or that you do not want to hear what they are dealing with, but there’s something to be said for keeping things upbeat. Then you feel guilty because you know that you need to cultivate deeper relationships and that if you don’t talk about your thoughts and emotions, then you’re just being superficial and caring about what’s on the surface. So this is something that you definitely struggle with.
4Winter
The changing of seasons is a pretty amazing, magical time, and for the most part, you like every season. But you have a real love/hate thing with winter and that’s just the way that it is. You don’t think that’s too nuts since most people say they hate this season. For one thing, it’s absolutely freezing most of the time, and for another, it goes on way too long. Whenever you think that winter is finally over and that spring is going to come around, there’s another snowfall. Like in April. OMG, you can’t even when it snows in April (even though people love to remind you that yes, this happens sometimes and yes, it even happened last year). You love wearing cute and cozy sweaters and scarves, but you hate your bulky winter coat. But it’s the only thing that really keeps you warm so you wear it. You also hate your winter boots but they’re the only ones that don’t totally soak your feet when you step outside your apartment or office building. Oh, winter.
3Lazy Sundays
There’s some law of the universe (or at least Instagram) that you have to be lazy on Sunday. You have to wear your comfiest, coziest outfit, drink coffee to your heart’s content, and watch TV or read. All day long. You can’t leave your apartment (except maybe to get said coffee… hey, you can’t make it yourself without causing a total and utter disaster in your kitchen). You just have to rest and relax because you deserve it after a long, hard week and you need to get ready for the upcoming busy week. But you also kind of hate lazy Sundays because when you wake up Monday morning, sure, you might feel relaxed… but you feel a little bit too relaxed. You feel like you should have gotten more done yesterday and been productive so Monday wasn’t such a harsh day. You wanted to do all this stuff, from working out to meal prepping, and you hate that you didn’t do all that in favor of being lazy.
2Healthy Food
Yes, you realize that you need to eat healthy and take care of your body. You get that you won’t be too happy down the line if you survive on potato chips and zero green vegetables. But while you know that, that doesn’t mean that you completely love eating healthy. You don’t. You have a love/hate relationship with healthy food because while you know you should eat it, you can’t help but hate salad. You always crave bacon cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries and you rarely crave anything that could be considered good for you. You wish this wasn’t the case, but it’s just the way that it is, and you can’t seem to shake this attitude. No, you don’t want to try to love kale, no matter how popular and trendy it is. But you love how you feel when you eat well. Yes, you really, really do. You totally get that eating the right protein, carbs, and healthy fats (hey avocados, you’re the best) are the key to health and happiness.
1Email
Oh, email. It’s a necessary evil and sometimes it’s even fun. But the thing is that your inbox is your greatest enemy. Sure, you love that you can keep in touch with anyone that you know super quickly and easily, and it sure beats talking on the phone (oh how you hate talking on the phone — no love/that thing there, just total and utter loathing). You love how convenient email is, but you hate how fast your inbox fills up, and you hate that emails go into the junk folder when they’re not anything even close to junk. You miss out on important stuff and you had no idea. You hate the random viruses that make your email account contact everyone on your list (even people you hate or never talk to anymore — oops) and you really, really hate this pull that email has on you. You feel the need to check it every five seconds. Seriously, it’s a sickness or something. But you love getting new emails. It’s the best kind of high. Like the rest of the things on this list, you both love and hate it, and that’s never going to change.
