Are you stuck in the past, making your romantic baggage keep you from awesome new experiences? Take our quiz to find out if you need to declare your baggage and run.Image Courtesy: Hannah Ruth Chauncey @art.swg.co.za

1. When you meet a cool new guy you are:
a) Keen to get to know him better.
b) Grounded. You don’t wanna get ahead of yourself.

c) A little suspicious and wondering what his flaws are…

2. Your guy tells you that you’re acting like a girl when you have an emotional day. This is what your ex once told you. You:

a) Might tell him how it makes you feel when he says that, but keep your feelings focused on him instead of your ex.

b) Are a bit miffed by it, but let it go.

c) Immediately think that all guys are so judgmental and your dude is just as lousy as your ex.

3. How do you deal with break-ups?

a) You work through the pain so you can move past the hurt.

b) You try not to think about your pain and rather just move on.

c) You hold grudges on your exes.

4. Do you have trust issues?

a) No, not really.

b) Doesn’t everyone have a few?

c) Hell yeah!

5. Your boyfriend goes away on the weekend with the boys. Do you worry he’ll cheat on you?

a) Well, he’s given no reason for you not to trust him.

b) He might – after all, this happens in many relationships.

c) Yes, you worry a lot.

Your score:
1. a1 b2 c3

2. a1 b2 c3

3. a1 b2 c3

4. a1 b2 c3

5. a1 b2 c3

Results:

5-7

Traveling light
The cool thing about you is that when you close the door on the past, you make sure to bolt it. You don’t let previous negative experiences in dating or relationships remove any happiness you can gain from present or future ones. When your boyfriend does something to upset you, you deal with it based on who he is – not by looking at him through an ex-boyfriend lens. This is good ‘cause it means you are living your life in the now, without letting the past define you. Awesome, girl.

8-11
Hey, how’d that get in my bag?
Although you might not have a lot of emotional baggage, there might be a secret compartment in your relationship where you could be harbouring a few issues and they crop up every now and then. These issues might be your own, such as the issues you have from previous relationships, or they could be gained from society. Maybe you’ve seen what your girl friends have gone through and you worry the same stuff is gonna happen to you. When these feelings of insecurity or jealousy strike, try to keep them in perspective instead of allowing your emotions to fly off the handle.

12-15 
Offload, please!
Okay, it seems that you are carrying a bit of romantic baggage. Maybe you’ve been really hurt in the past and this has made you cautious. That’s okay, but don’t immediately assume that every experience is going to be the same. This just makes you lose out on the fun of finding out what’s going to happen! The best way to deal with the past is to learn from it. This means you can take the lesson from the experience and use it as power. If you do find yourself in a similar situation as before, you’ll be empowered to spot the signs and get out before you get hurt. Trust yourself to know how to handle things and then you’ll be able to enjoy the ride much better.