Why is it so easy in movies? Why is it that the guy falls in love with the shy, quiet girl that nobody notices? Why does the girl always break through the tough guy’s shell and see the softer side of him?

Movies always end the same way. The guy and the girl fall in love, and bam…happily ever after.

Movies never show the reality. The characters, in their made up worlds, don’t fall for the wrong person; they never have to sit there and stare aimlessly at their phone, waiting for a text that never comes.

Movies don’t show the hurt that people feel when they fall in love with someone they know they can’t have. The characters don’t ever sit there and physically ache for that person’s touch.

More importantly, movies never tell the truth about heartbreak. No one ever told us how much it would actually hurt when you found out the boy you liked had kissed another girl at a party. No one told us that we would sit on our bathroom floors and cry until we couldn’t feel anything at all. No one told us that he would walk into our lives like a hurricane only to leave us with nothing. No movie ever taught us how to pick up the pieces and move on. Love is not as it seems in the movies; not at all.

From a young age, girls are taught that one day their Prince Charming will come. No one tells us we have to kiss a few frogs first, and what happens when we do. Movies need to teach us that life isn’t perfect and love isn’t easy. Most of all, movies need to stop creating this fantasy that love just happens.

Love is a beautiful and powerful thing. There will be laughter and smiles, but there will also be pain and tears. Love means sacrifice and fighting for that person. Love means embarrassment and awkward first kisses. Love isn’t easy at all, and this is what movies should be teaching us.