The Highest Potential of a Man

It was Elizabeth Gilbert's...Eat, Pray, Love that brought to my attention my own destructive behavior which I had pinned on suitor after suitor for years.....it was this small paragraph in an amazing book that shook me out of my denial and forced me to accept more responsibility for my failed attempts at love. The quotes reads as follows: "I have a history of making decisions very quickly about men. I have alway 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 I have hug 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." It wasn't until today that I realized.....I mean actually realized something VERY important in this quote which I have missed now for the last 3 years....."the highest potential of a man" this is what I have fallen for, something I assume or expect someone to be, rather than the person they actually are. I have fallen for an expectation of someone....not necessarily what that person can actually live up to. I have fallen in love with something yet to exist in a person, and then they always let me down. This concept is mildly hard for me to articulate....quite possibly I have not just been the victim of my own optimism....quite possibly...I am a terrorist, in the lives of those I touch, pushing for this highest potential before someone is ready for it. Isn't love about lifting people up...... Im gonna try this love thing with a fresh perspective!!! And a little wisdom....thanks Elizabeth Gilbert!!!