Up until very recently, I believed that if a person didn’t have a romantic love, their life was automatically unfulfilled. I mean there had to be a reason why almost all movies that ended happily had a romantic pairing finally embracing/kissing/etc..You can’t end a movie with the main character realizing that they are happy and fulfilled alone right?
Right?
Don’t get me wrong. If you ask any of my friends they’ll tell you that I’m a romantic. If someone says the right words to me I’ll fall for them hook, line and sinker. But, recently I’ve been wondering if life was meant to be a romantic comedy after all. Why is romantic love valued above all else?
Imagine there is a person and they work tirelessly to make all of their dreams come true. They see their friends on the weekends. Play with their nieces and nephews during the week. When it’s warm they travel and when it’s cold they are content to spend time indoors with their favorite pet.
Now imagine another person. They hate their job and believe that they can’t leave it anytime soon. They don’t talk to their family, they don’t travel, they don’t really do much of anything. Life seems to be revolving around two days out of seven. But, when they do get to those two days they spend time with their significant other.
Is the second person’s life more fulfilled because they are in a relationship? Are they more fulfilled because their relationship with one person outweighs the other relationships in their life? I’m not trying to judge this nonexistent person but, I think that it’s ridiculous to place romantic love over everything else.
There’s so much pressure to be in love. There’s so much pressure to be in lust. There’s so much pressure for everything that has to do with romantic love…and for what? To say that you are infatuated with a person? To say that a person is infatuated with you?
When love is good it’s good. But, it shouldn’t be the only thing that motivates you. Different types of love whether it’s career-based, community-based, familial, friendly, or otherwise are just as important. “Missing out” on romantic relationships doesn’t mean that you have this gaping hole in your life. It just means that you have a lot more love to give to other aspects of your life.