It’s April. Soon schools will close, seniors will graduate, and in spite of bright summer colors and summer warmth, there will be melancholy. Soon the seniors will abandon Park City, and regardless of how much we like it, we’ll feel the anxiety of leaving.

There’s another problem: the high school romance is in trouble. Once summer ends, there will be mass separation–conflicting futures, different schools, whatever can separate will separate. The high school romance is an act of futility.

Now, it’s important to keep in mind that I’m not trying to be an edgy incel—I know many of them and they are obnoxious. I assure you that this article has a happy ending, so just play along, will you?

Romance is a burden on the wallet. Think of all the money you spent on flowers, Valentines’ chocolates, or any sort of gift. Imagine what you could’ve used that money for! And to think it went to something so worthless. I recommend suing.

Even worse, your time went to waste. You could’ve been studying, working, socializing, but no, instead you chose to spend time with this one person–a great deal of time, too. Unlike money, time isn’t something you get back.

Your relationship will leave you depressed and fundamentally changed. Something you’ve cherished—something you’ve spent money and time on—will leave you, and no matter how hard you try, it will never come back. Sure, you will go through life and find many other partners, but as Rod Stewart once sang, the first cut is the deepest. There’s nothing like young love—nothing more innocent and fun and vitalizing than your first romance. It’s not something you will forget, no matter how old you get.

Going from constant affection to none is a jarring change. Loneliness will feel much more lonely.

Life is much the same. Youth fades, and we end up chasing it, trying desperately to have that innocence back. If life doesn’t kill us, age will, and I happen to have a phobia of death—thanatophobia, it’s called.

So were our high school romances—and by extent, our lives—a waste of time? No, I’m just neurotic.

Albert Camus said, “Deciding whether or not life is worth living is to answer the fundamental question in philosophy.” I cannot attempt to answer this question. My mind is limited. I’ll tell you what I think, though. Yes, life is worth living. I’m an epicurean, in spite of my cynical beliefs. Life is about the pursuit of happiness. Whatever makes us happy is what gets us closer to the meaning of life, and if romance makes us happy, and in some cases it does, then it is certainly worth the trouble.

It’s easy to be cynical—that’s exactly why I am neurotic. It’s much harder to be happy, unless you are the village idiot—which I tend to think I am.

Yes, our relationships will end, and they are an act of futility, but why should that matter? It’s human to feel emotion. It’d be weird to be without love and sadness. My advice—not like my advice matters—is to keep on keeping on. Be young and stupid. When your romance ends, feel free to sink into depression. It’s human.