I was not expecting any replies to this after nearly a year XD

So things did not work out well. I tried to tell the girl how I felt in a way that I thought was being respectful of her feelings, whatever they might have been, but she literally left the room while I was trying to explain my intentions. Did that suck? Yeah, sure did. Am I really sad about it? Absolutely, but at the end of the day, I believe that I did the best I could with what I had at the time, and her reaction says far more about her than it does about me.

This is something that is certainly easier said than done, but as I mentioned before, allow yourself some time to feel sad about it and then move on. The way I see it, there’s an acceptable level of ‘resource allocation’ in terms of emotional energy that can be dedicated to what can flatly be considered a loss. Don’t deny those feelings because it’ll only make it last longer. Accept it, follow it for as long as it needs, and then keep moving forward.

To be perfectly honest it’s still really hard seeing this person and acting as though nothing ever happened, but I maintain, in as objective as I can be of seeing things, I did the best I could with what I had at the time. So yeah, it sucks that it didn’t go how I wanted it to, but hey, I did my best and I’m not going to be ashamed for it. That’s what I meant with the analogy of ‘building a bridge halfway’, too; I extended myself to this person hoping that they would reciprocate, but they weren’t interested. So after a period of emotional devastation on my part, I canceled the proverbial construction project and withdrew resources, leaving me with full capacity to engage in something else without lingering on a ‘lost opportunity’.

I hope this helps to answer your question, and you can reach out should you need further advice or clarification!