Love. A word that has been spoken, written, sung, whispered, and longed for more than any other. A word that carries centuries of poetry, of promises, of heartache and devotion. And yet, for all the ways we try to define it, love remains one of the most misunderstood forces in existence.

Love is not just romance. It is not just passion. It is not just the fleeting intoxication of being wanted, nor the fairy-tale endings we were taught to dream of. Love is deeper, wider, more infinite than we dare to imagine. It is the thread that weaves through everything, the force that moves the stars and breathes life into the soul. But to truly understand love, we must strip away the illusions, the conditioning, the expectations of what we have been told it should be—and see it for what it truly is.

We have been raised to believe in a love that is conditional. A love that must be earned. A love that completes, that rescues, that fills the voids within us. We look for love outside of ourselves, desperate to find someone who will finally make us feel whole. And yet, the love we seek is not something that can be given or taken away. It is something that must first be found within.

Love, in its highest form, is not about possession. It is not about ownership. It is not about finding someone to fill the spaces we are afraid to face alone. Love is a state of being. It is presence. It is awareness. It is seeing another, truly seeing them, without needing them to be anything other than who they are.

Love is not limited to romance. We have placed too much weight on romantic love, as if it is the highest and purest form, as if all other loves are lesser. But love exists in infinite forms. The love between friends who hold space for each other in their darkest hours. The love between a mother and her child, unbreakable and unconditional. The love between strangers, in small, fleeting moments of kindness, reminding us of our shared humanity.

And then, there is self-love. The foundation upon which all other love is built. Because how can we love deeply, truly, if we do not first love ourselves? Not in the way that the world encourages—through achievement, through validation, through external measures of worth. But in the quiet, honest, unwavering acceptance of who we are, in every moment, without apology, without condition.

Love is not what we get—it is what we give. It is not about taking—it is about expanding. And this is where so many misunderstand love. We think it is something to be found, to be kept, to be held tightly so that it does not leave. But love is not meant to be controlled. It is meant to flow. The more we give, the more it grows. The more we hoard, the more it suffocates. Love is not a finite resource—it is infinite. It does not belong to us. It moves through us.

And perhaps, the greatest wisdom of love is this: it is not always comfortable. Love is not just light and softness—it is truth. It is growth. It is the mirror that forces us to face ourselves, to break down the walls we have built, to become something greater than we were before. Love challenges us. It breaks us open. It asks us to surrender—to let go of control, to trust, to step into the unknown.

And yet, love is also the safest place in the world. Not because it protects us from pain, but because it gives pain a purpose. Love does not promise a life without loss, without endings, without heartbreak. But it does promise that none of it will be in vain. That even the love that leaves us, even the love that ends, even the love that is unreturned—it all leaves something behind. It shapes us. It changes us. It becomes us.

So let us not limit love to romance. Let us not search for it as if it is something we must find. Let us become it. Let us love in ways that are fearless and boundless—in our friendships, in our families, in the way we speak to ourselves, in the way we move through the world. Let us love, not because we need something in return, but because love is the very essence of who we are.

In the end, love is not something outside of us, waiting to be given or taken away. Love is the force that moves through all things. Love is the language of the universe. And when we stop searching, when we stop grasping, when we simply open ourselves to it—we realise it was always here. It was always us. 🤍