I think love happens when you’re able to stop asking yourself, “What is it they’re doing to show me they really love me? What if they don’t stay?” and instead, you start trusting that the feelings you’re experiencing really have no explanation and warrant no questioning, they just simply are.
Love brings pain; the sweetest kinds of pain. Pain like when the butterflies start to actually hurt, smiling so big your cheeks get sore, or laughing so hard your stomach aches. Be reminded that not all pain is bad. Not all pain has to come with tears in your eyes.
Yes, it is more than possible to connect with another person right off the bat. I’m sure there are people out there who’ve experienced love at first start and are lucky enough to still be with that person to this day, but even for those people, love takes time. You can’t love somebody without knowing their favorite color, favorite dessert, favorite decoration, or the way their breathing sounds when they’ve drifted off to sleep. If you can tell somebody you love them after you’ve seen them at their most vulnerable, after learning all their deepest, darkest secrets… that’s love.
When things don’t feel right to you, trust your gut. Nobody knows you better than you know yourself. If you keep waiting around, hoping to feel something that just isn’t there, you could miss out on something that truly makes you happy. I almost did.
If there’s anything I’ve learned after nearly 20 years of living, it’s that you must do what makes you happy – no matter what. Because those who truly love you, truly care for you, will support your decisions beyond a shadow of a doubt simply because they know just how much happiness it brings you.
To love is not as simple as it sounds. As I’m sure you know, love is a long maze of blockades and bumps. Monstrous troubles may stand in your way, and they may impair your vision, make you sick to your stomach and bring the strongest of us to our knees. If you can truly find that person to complete your puzzle, you can experience happiness, and that happiness may feel foreign to you. You’ll feel like you’ve struck gold, like you’ve found the thing that’s been mentioned in books. You’ve seen it in your friends, you’ve seen it on TV and now you, reading this, have it.
And when somebody makes you happy, tell them, and tell them constantly. I don’t mean become a broken record, but every time someone does something to make me smile or laugh, I tell them because I want them to know they’re special to me; I want them to know they’re the reason I have a smile on my face. I want them to know – they’re my happiness.