"He's my soul mate."  I remember the first time I said that.  I was 17, and I thought I'd met the love of my life, my forever.  The feelings were intense.  We talked for hours and hours about everything.  The sex was amazing.  Or at least I thought it was amazing; I didn't have a whole lot of experience at that point, and so no real frame of reference.  But I thought he was the one for sure.

And then he left me for his ex.

Still, for five years, I hung onto those words, believing with all my heart that he was my soul mate and that we'd somehow get back together.  For five years, I was his "friend with benefits," but never anything more.

And so when I finally decided, in April 2001, that I was done with him, I thought, "Well, maybe he's not my soul mate after all."

And in May 2001, I started dating someone else.  And with that one, I thought, "This one.  This one is my soul mate."

We even got married in October 2001.  Whirlwind romance.  Soul mates.

And then we got divorced in October 2008, after he had an affair with my best friend and got her pregnant.

Crap.  Okay.  Try again.  Third times a charm.

The third time I said, "He's my soul mate," I was 33, marrying a 20-year-old.

After five years of a rocky rollercoaster in that marriage, I realized something...

Soul Mates Suck.

Soul Mate.  Twin Flame.  One and only true love.  Forever.

It's bullshit.

Don't get me wrong, we all have soul mates.  It's just that we don't have just one of them.  And they aren't forever sorts of relationships.  In fact, soul mate relationships are some of the most trying relationships that we'll ever have.