Love, However You Define It

Love.

It means so many different things. It means friendship, and it means romance. It means family and it means God. It feels kind of sad and kind of happy, but you can’t compare it to anything else. It’s that feeling when you’re in the car listening to your favorite song, and the sun is shining in your eyes. It’s that feeling when you finish a movie, and you’re crying, but you cant stop smiling. It’s that feeling in your stomach when you know someone is in your life, and they’re there for a reason. It’s that feeling in your heart when you don’t know what’s next and everything is uncertain, but you’re ok, and you know that. 

Love isn’t just some thing we have on Earth. It’s something entirely otherworldly. It’s like time. You can’t see it and you don’t understand it, but it’s there, and everyone knows it. And it’s beautiful and confusing. Nobody can define it or explain it. It’s something that no one will ever fully understand, and I think that’s what I like about it. It will always be entirely personal; we can’t compare it or debate it, it’s just love. It will always be mine and it will always be yours, it’s love. 

Love is what gives us purpose. Love is what makes us feel. Love gives us intentions, it gives us life. Love is what will save us. Love is what did save us. 

Love is something to give away. Love is something to receive. Love is something that transcends so many different forms, and yet it is never gone. It’s something to celebrate, it’s something to cry about. It’s something that will show itself in every stage of your life.

Because you’re going to love people. And you’re going to lose people. You’ll miss some and you’ll learn from them all. You’re going to have to open up your heart, and it’s going to get broken. You’re going to try to run away from it. But it will meet you on the other side. Love will never leave you. Love will always, always be there.

So let it. Let love take over. Close your eyes and breathe it in. Stop resisting it and don’t be ashamed. Just love, without thinking about anything else. Let it all go. And love.

“It’s that thing when you're with someone, and you love them and they know it, and they love you and you know it... but it's a party... and you're both talking to other people, and you're laughing and shining... and you look across the room and catch each other's eyes... but - but not because you're possessive, or it's precisely sexual... but because... that is your person in this life. And it's funny and sad, but only because this life will end, and it's this secret world that exists right there in public, unnoticed, that no one else knows about. It's sort of like how they say that other dimensions exist all around us, but we don't have the ability to perceive them. That's - That's what I want out of a relationship. Or just life, I guess.”

-Greta Gerwig, from Frances Ha

Vivian Chambers