It's been engraved in our human nature to aspire to our own happy ending and find that leg popping, time stopping, heart warming love. As young girls we wanted to be princess and to have men fall in love with us at first sight, and as boys the woman was the eternal keeper of the heart once she finally caught your eye. It's no secret that the facade of love fell away as we've gotten older and slightly wiser to the aspects of love.
But no one ever told us what it's really like. Those after-school specials and the fabricated stories from our parents couldn't prepare us for the reality of love. In a nut shell, love is one of the most challenging things that we encounter as humans. It cannot be defined in a sentence and holds an infinite amount of meanings for different people in the world.
Love can not be completely unconditional. For most, this is the hardest thing to grasp but the most important. Everyone wants to believe that no matter what you should always love someone and your partner should always love you back. But to what point? How far will you go to forgive and love? No love can be completely unconditional because we cannot forgive every boundary that is broken and every mistake that is made. Yes, we will love people for their faults but not for the repeated times they hurt us. We must love openly but not to the point where we let ourselves get hurt for the sake of love. And in turn we cannot hurt the ones we love and use unconditional love as an excuse for our actions. In other words, have respect for yourself and for your partner.
Love wont fix our problems. Being in love and saying "I love you" will never solve all our problems. It won't make our own personal insecurities go away and it won't make us different people. The story of Cinderella becoming a princess after she found her one true love has been engraved in our brains since we could talk and now it's something we subconsciously look for. We won't be that princess until we turn to ourselves rather than turning to love.
Love is more than sex. The biggest lesson I learned about relationships is that sex does not mean love. Our need for intimacy, care, and love can never be fulfilled with a quick physical encounter. It has become almost common knowledge that hooking up rarely ever leads to a relationship or love. It's time to stray away from physical fulfillment and try to find a connection that holds meaning and commitment. Sex before love is just lust, but sex with love builds intimacy. May we always know the difference for the sake of our hearts.
Love is diverse. Anyone who tells you that you cannot love someone based on of age, sex, race, or religion is wrong. In today's society this has become a known fact, yet we are still allowing social constructions to shape who we are supposed to love. I don't think I have ever seen anything more beautiful than blended love away from all rules. Let yourself love diversely and let other do the same.
Love is beautiful in every single way. We choose not to believe the corny stories we hear about that moment when love becomes such an amazing and beautiful part of your life. It can make your own personal happiness better in so many ways. When you have built a connection with someone and it's reciprocated just as strong, there is no comparing that feeling to anything. No love is not the ultimate savior for everything, but it makes life a better place knowing we have a true and honest relationship with love.
