Anonymous asked:

so i've had a crush on this boy for a year, but, i've only 'known' him half a year. at the beginning of the school year we were put in the same french class. i've hung out with him once. his best friend lives near me. he knows my best friend more than me, so he talks to her, but ignores me and shyly turns away. but i always catch him looking at me, and he always acts shy, or even loud, when i'm around. he's quite a shy person though, and maybe he acts like that because he knows i like him? HELP

Mmm hmmmmm, I get you, A-NO. What you’re really asking is how your story fits into a broader cultural narrative of romantic love, amirite? Well, let me say some stuff about that!

Movies and television shows are filled with characters who must overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles (like shyness or living in a weird lake house) to find true love. Overcoming these obstacles can take weeks, months, or even years. With all this yearning and pining is it any wonder that some of us become painful crush junkies?

Take for example The X-Files. Agents Mulder and Scully had one of the greatest will-they-or-won’t-they television love stories of our time (Proof? So many weird Youtube montages). Somehow, the longer they put off revealing their feelings, the more their story resonated in our nerd-hearts. WE COULD NOT GET ENOUGH.

(Source: human-activities)

Our addiction to complicated courtships doesn’t end with The X-Files. Swiss writer Alain de Botton suggests that romantic literature, with its emphasis on aching after a distant lover, just validates our painful crush tendencies.

He states:

This focus on unrequitedness is of course a great solace for the lovelorn. It means that their feelings are continually heightened and confirmed by what they read. They are trained to dwell on, and even celebrate, the bitter-sweet sensations of waiting for a phone call and microwaving meals-for-one.

Of course, unlike our favourite characters we aren’t always rewarded at the end of a painful crush. And, since love stories usually end when the couple gets together they leave us totally unprepared for what happens after someone does reciprocate our feelings.

Soooooo, all you need to do is cut back on all the Goethe you’ve been reading and stop streaming The X-Files and go talk to this guy. Does this help? Okay, great!

Peeeaaaace,

A.