When was the last time one of your girlfriends recounted with great enthusiasm a wonderful date she had? Yeah, we can’t think of that time either. Maybe it’s because bad date stories are just so much more fun to hear about, but also, we seem to be in this strange period of dating (The Dating Dark ages, it should be called) where people are weirder, creepier, and catfish-ier (thanks social media), so it really comes as no surprise that dates are more often bad than good. Then there are those that do make it into relationship territory, only to reveal their true colors (the jackass kind) when you’ve already told all your friends how well it was going. When you’ve seen so many failed relationships in your life, it’s hard to stay in the game, and even harder to believe in love- especially when those around you might blame these failures on you being too picky, too judgmental, or even a little crazy. You might even go crazy, as a result; there are only so many douchebags you can take before you crack.
What would Elizabeth Taylor do? The screen queen of Hollywood’s Golden Age was the first actress to be paid over a million dollars for a single role (hell yeah! Ladies doin’ it for themselves) and maybe even the first to turn the “crazy ex” narrative around into something light-hearted and positive (Taylor Swift may have taken notes from her: see her video for Blank Space, which pokes fun at the amount of times she’s been through a breakup, and how the media portrays her for it). Elizabeth Taylor was definitely no stranger to the failed relationship: if you Google her name, there’s a “More” selection next to the spouse section, because they all won’t fit on one page. She could’ve been angry, she could’ve been retaliative, and she could’ve destroyed her love life if she let the amount of failed relationships she faced determine that she would always be a failure in relationships (which is untrue), but instead she flipped these somewhat negative experiences into something laughable, something to be learned from. You have to accept that which is not in your control in a relationship, applaud yourself for what you did well, and then laugh at what was not so great- Dame Elizabeth herself did it when she said, “I am a very committed wife. And I should be committed, too, for being married so many times.” After all, you’re only truly crazy if you can’t admit that you are!
