Love was meant to be a journey, and I think so often we forget that.
Love is beautiful in so many ways. It can make life feel better when you have someone next to you who is irrevocably in love with who you are. They can help you be your best, help you work through hard stuff, and let you feel less alone than you did before.
Life still remains difficult, though. You aren’t suddenly immune to hardship. Having someone you love by your side can help take the weight off, and it should. It means you are still walking through the intense and complicated parts of life, but you are walking it with someone.
We treat our entire lives as something to work through, and we believe once we find love everything becomes easier. We believe love is the essential “end” to the difficult part, and that love will smooth out every other bump in the road.
We seem to forget that love doesn’t fix everything. It wasn’t supposed to. Love is a journey you take with someone through the duration of your life, and it’s meant to support and help you grow. Truthfully, you don’t need a love that tries to keep you in a bubble and pretend that nothing bad ever happens. You deserve a love that stays with you every step. Someone who loves you through every twist and turn.
Because love like that doesn’t promise to be perfect, but it does promise to be patient. It doesn’t promise to be simple, but it does promise to stick around.
You deserve someone who understands that love isn’t the end, but a new beginning- one that you will maneuver together. Someone who is fully aware of their own faults, of yours, and of what could happen, but chooses to bend and grow with you. Someone who sees your best and worst sides, and doesn’t run away. Someone who understands that no one is perfect, but that as long as you are trying our best every day then that should count for something.
Love isn’t a straight line- it throws curve balls and feels more like a rollercoaster than a smooth highway. Love asks you to look at someone and say “They aren’t perfect, but I still think they are worth it.” It asks you to set aside your ideas of “easy” and instead grab their hand and prepare for something even better together.
You deserve someone who cherishes the sweet moments with you, the moments that feel uncomplicated or simple. They make the most of it and don’t take it for granted.
You also deserve someone who doesn’t decide to run when things get difficult. They stick around and do the hard work with you. They choose you, even when you don’t want to choose yourself. They aren’t looking to you to save them or fix their life, but they think life is better with you in it.
You deserve someone who loves all that you are, and encourages you to be the best version of yourself. Who isn’t afraid to tell you when you’re wrong, but does so compassionately. Someone who stands by your side even when it seems the entire world is against you.
You deserve someone who loves you even when it’s nerve-wracking or overwhelming. Not because they are forced to, but because they choose to. Someone who understands that love isn’t unbreakable, but it is worth fighting for. It’s worth working towards. Because when it’s all said and done, you deserve a love that isn’t afraid of obstacles.
You deserve a love that isn’t afraid, period.
