I’ve had various irl crushes but two stand out specifically. The first one was my coworker and the second one was my housemate, so… not the best situations to be in. Familiarity I guess? I waited until I left the job and left the house respectively before I asked them out. Neither of them seemed to handle it all that well, honestly… they didn’t want to give clear answers. Well I learned my lesson with the first guy (we’re still friends) and didn’t push with the second (haven’t heard from him since). Revealing how I felt was terrifying but I knew I had to do it because I would have regretted it if I didn’t. And I try to keep the perspective that feelings/emotions are normal and we all have them.
But when you find someone who feels the same about you as you feel about them… it makes taking the chance completely worth it. All those rejections before? They no longer matter. We all deserve to be with someone who returns our feelings.