We all crave that ideal romantic interest that keeps us pushing through life. Not being shown real love from a young age impacts our generation’s view of romantic relationships, pushing us in many cases to want to be in one. This leads to dating from a young age as we try to find someone who will make us feel better about ourselves. Hopefully, your ideal person is someone you imagine will always be there for you, who chooses to love and care about you and only you. Or maybe you don’t feel it’s necessary for you to be in a relationship at a young age. Speaking of the adverse effects of teenage dating, not every teen becomes mature once they reach high school. That’s four years to develop from common mistakes that are usually made and to find yourself in the works of high school. Indeed, mental health is the most critical factor in the life of a high-schooler. Having a relationship that you take seriously in high school isn’t beneficial to your mental health, because continuing to put that “person” above yourself is the biggest problem when in a relationship. Social media always projects the best parts of a relationship; social media’s impact on young adults shows why so many teens crave that intimacy with a person. No one ever talks about the bad days a relationship brings, like the times where you don’t know if the connection will last because of how bad of a day it has been. What about the days where you guys aren’t okay and can’t figure out why, or those times when you argue about why the relationship isn’t working? Focusing just on the relationship will leave you off track with your personal life, causing you to lose sight of other things such as school, extracurricular activities, and most importantly your mental health. Adding to this, you learn more about a person by spending time with them. It takes time to know a person for who they really are, and once you do and the relationship works for the first few months, all seems well. But when it comes to arguing, there’s a different feeling. You care so much you invalidate your feelings and thoughts because you want to be happy with them, but not all relationships work the way we want them to. Letting your feelings become invalidated because of how your “person” feels shouldn’t be stood for. A person’s character in hard times proves to you if the relationship is worth the effort. The concept of a relationship negatively hitting a low makes you sad, and you focus so much on them and trying to make them feel better you lose focus on the real issue. Make sure that you’re okay first, before you lose yourself in the process of trying to be in a relationship, putting in excessive effort to make it work. Relationships take a lot of strength, and not every teen has that strength. With personal life on top of school and a relationship, the high stress levels can be unhealthy, negatively impacting the way you live and think. Not many teens know how to balance a relationship and still focus on their mentality and health, because they aren’t mature or genuinely open to understanding how to be. Not having a direct mind on yourself and how you are before you get into a relationship can keep you from growing into the person you want and aim to be. If you can’t mentally handle it, continue to be positive and focus on becoming a better person. We are still young and growing, and relationships aren’t for the weak. Please protect your heart.