The other morning, I woke up to a dozen Snapchat notifications from a friend. She had a lot to say about a crush that she just couldn’t seem to get over. She told me how she was losing sleep over it and struggling to get things done because she was so busy thinking about this person. I began to think about how many college students allow a crush to distract them from their lives. Why have we created a culture of keeping these things to ourselves? Let’s learn to confess.
It’s common for students to refuse to tell their crush their romantic feelings. Why? Because they’re afraid of getting rejected? Isn’t it worse to go through your day-to-day life miserable because you don’t know how they feel about you?
UT students are busy. A crush is just one more thing to worry about. The best thing you can do to get a crush off your mind is to confess.
“(I have observed) one of my roommates let their full mood be dependent on what’s going on with their situationship,” journalism junior Parker Reynolds said.
Reynolds, who lives with five other roommates, sees how relationships affect young adults every single day. We have enough to worry about with grades, tests, resumes, keeping clean and organized and making it on time to all of our commitments. Adding romantic problems to the mix just creates more unnecessary stress. While crushes are inevitable, the easiest way to avoid the stress is to be honest.
Communication associate professor Robert Carroll, who teaches a class called Interpersonal Communication, wants his students to get better at connecting with each other on a personal level. Carroll even urges his students to text their crushes as a part of his class.
“The whole goal of interpersonal communication is (to) connect with them, shoot your shot, go for it,” Carroll said. “(Students) think that the risk is greater than the reward.”
Carroll explains that many refrain from confessing their feelings because it’s risky to put themselves out there. They’d rather live in the safety of a crush than be embarrassed, rejected or ruin a friendship.
Don’t be the person that chooses to hold back because they’re scared. It will only make you sad because you want to know how they feel. Meanwhile, rejection can bring new opportunities. I can say from personal experience, the agony of not knowing is so much worse than the temporary sadness you feel after being rejected.
I get it. You like them so much that you can’t bear the thought of them not feeling the same way. But if a relationship is what you want, it needs to begin with communication.
Tell them. Take the risk. You might not even realize how much it’s weighing on you. It might change your life.
Acevedo is a freshman journalism major from League City, Texas.
