I have never been in love.
While living in a city with three million other people, it seems like the city is full of happy, go lucky people. People are constantly happy because they are in love, but I find it often that this idea of love keeps pondering across my thoughts..what really is love? Obviously, I am no expert in this category but I think it is something everyone should ask themselves at one point.
One of the best things about living in Chicago is the fact there is a variety of different types of love shown.
But how can we really define it?
Merriam-Webster Dictionary says that love is "a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person."
Yet, I seem to disagree.
Is it people holding hands while walking down the street? Is it when couples nuzzle into each other on the train because it's chilly outside? Is it having the constant photo opportunities? Is it going to get coffee for each other? Is it having someone as your best friend? Is it having someone to party with?
There really is no set definition of what love is. I've first-hand been able to see how love is when it's there, and what it's like when it's not. Love destroys people in the most beautiful way if they let it, I think. It allows people to see the world in a whole new perspective, but I think that it can also be damaging too. It sometimes blindsides people to the harsh realities of expectations. But, love comes with a price. We get lost in it and desire the intoxication that love brings.
Maybe I'm wrong and I very well could be, but I guess what I don't understand is why people find it so hard to love? I think maybe that it could be because people are not fully content or understand exactly who they are and who they want to be and that is okay. It's more than okay to not know who you are and what you plan to accomplish. However, it's challenging to love another person if you don't really embrace the wonders of who you are. There is no reason not to love who you are. Obviously love and self-acceptance l comes with time as one ages, but I can't help but think that we sometimes get too caught up in the idea of it that we actually are not able to fully submerge ourselves in love or that we get distracted by it and forget that we actually need to put ourselves first and figure out who we are.
I think that love is loving yourself and sharing the beauty of yourself and your flaws with one another, not just a significant other. Love can be between anyone: any race or any gender. But, how we let love define us, is the inevitable cost of the game.
"I can't tell you exactly how it will end. but I can this: when it begins, it will feel like the rain and when it ends, it will feel like the fire. and the truth is, we're all beautifully mad enough to believe that maybe love was meant to save us from ourselves." R.M. Drake
xoxo,
cgl
