Haddaway

What is love? Baby, don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. No more.

I have belted this song out on many solo drives. It poses a pretty loaded yet undeniable question...what is love?

After nearly a year of blogging about love and many things relating to it, I realized I never stopped to speak to this timeless question.

In an email yesterday, I told a friend, "Love is such an abstract concept." Love is a feeling, it's a state of being, it's an action, it's an aspiration, and it's a mystery. How do we pinpoint that exact moment in which we fall in love with someone? How do we know when we are no longer in love with someone? What's the difference between being in love and loving someone? Why is love the worst 4-letter word?

Saying "I Love You" is this cherished and almost sacred moment...in the right context. I'll be the first to admit that I have said I love you to people who were not boyfriends or life long loves and never had any qualms about it. But, hey, different stokes for different folks.

Listen, I don't have answers to any of the questions above. I think love is whatever we make it out to be, the same way it can be any and all of the aforementioned things (feeling, aspiration, etc.) However, I think our biggest fascination with love is that it is something we aspire toward. Happily ever after is ingrained in our heads from the time we are small children. Now, thanks to the likes of Say Yes to the Dress and Bridezillas, we still have this aspiration of love. People are obsessed with love because it is universal. It doesn't discriminate based on age, socioeconomic status, etc. If it weren't so universal, I would not have a reason to write this blog.

In the end, the best way to approach this word is with an open mind. There isn't a need to take direction from others about who to love, when to love, or how to love. As long as you do it freely, my blog and I are happy.

Love freely,
tY