my dating cycle

i've recently discovered [or simply come to terms with], what my "mistakes" are when dating. instead of trying to stumble over words to explain, i'll use this quote because it totally and completely encompasses everything that i've been doing since i started dating at the tender age of 12:

"I have a history of making decisions very quickly about men. I have always fallen in love fast and without measuring risks. I have a tendency not only to see the best in everyone, but to assume that everyone is emotionally capable of reaching his highest potential. I have fallen in love more times than I care to count with the highest potential of a man, rather than with the man himself, and then I have hung on to the relationship for a long time (sometimes far too long) waiting for the man to ascend to his own greatness. Many times in romance I have been a victim of my own optimism."

- Elizabeth Gilbert -