C has sent in their response to this prompt:
“Can you live a fulfilling life without being “in love”? What does that even mean? And is love something we have any control over?”
I found this to be a pretty troubling question because love is my favorite thing in the world. The things I love the people I love and being in love are the things that keep me going in life. And even if there are other things that fufill me in life I would always feel like there is something missing without love.
It is one thing to be talking about love in general because I don’t think you can really be alive without any love at all. If there’s absolutely nothing in life that you love, what’s the point of even living? Sorry to sound dramatic about that, but I feel like I live my life in pursuit of all kinds of love and that’s really my ultimate goal. Regardless of this general love, being in love is such a special thing that I hope everyone, even if it’s just for a small amount of time, can experience at some point in their life. I’m sure you can still live a fulfilling life without ever being “in love” but that doesn’t mean that I would want to or would wish that upon anyone else.
Love is a powerful thing, right on up there with anger and fear. Love really has the power to control us as human beings, but I’d sure prefer love being the thing that gets us going even if it does have the ability to cause quite a bit of pain. Regardless of this pain I think love is always worth it.
I’ve recently found myself in a bit of an unrequited love situation, and while it’s painful and confusing I still wouldn’t trade it for anything. For a brief period of time I thought it’d be better off if I ignored these feelings and pretended I didn’t love this girl. First off it was impossible to ignore. Love is too powerful and isn’t something you can just decide to get rid of. Secondly, I realized how stupid of an idea that was in the first place. Love isn’t something I would want to get rid of anyways. Even if it is unrequited, the sudden stop of this outpour of love on my part just seemed like such a waste. No matter where or towards who your love is directed I don’t think it can ever be a waste. Even if it’s unrequited. Even if it’s undeserved. Even if it’s terrifying. It’s always worth it.
Love is a tricky thing and there’s so much I could say about. I still don’t understand it and I don’t think I ever will. But for now, to keep it simple, I just want to feel it and keep feeling it. There’s something special in just letting something be instead of trying to pick it apart and understand it. Let love in, let it take over you, and just feel. All the good. All the bad. Everything that comes with it. Love is always worth it.
Robert Hiraeth 