On Love

Love is not a binary state, it is a process with no boundaries. We don’t fall in or out of love, we feel more or less connected to someone. Love is a shade, not a colour.

Love is not exclusive to romance – it drives every relationship, regardless of its nature. You cannot control love, nor does it respond to your will and needs. Love happens naturally, spontaneously when you don’t try, when you surrender to the moment and the person before you, and only if they do the same. No intentions or objectives, merely an open-hearted presence.

You don’t love everyone with the same intensity, but if you feel a connection with them, then you do love them. Acknowledging love is not shameful. It doesn’t make you weaker, nor is it a risk one takes. Expressing your feelings – your love – through genuine thoughts, words, and actions is a strength – an act that honours a relationship. It is needed to sustain love, to renew it from moment to moment, and prevent it from becoming a habit.

Love ebbs and flows. We change, and that will reflect on every relationship. Change should not be feared – it is universal, and drives life itself. Choking your own growth for the sake of preserving a relationship is not love, it is dependence. It may preserve a structure of a relationship but its essence, the love that underlies it, will be gone. When an ebb does come, it represents an opportunity for renewal, which allows relationships to evolve and never fall into static habits.

Strength

Strength is expressing your feelings, not burying them.
Strength is acknowledging hurt, not deflecting or hurting back.
Strength is empathy, not possession.
Strength is gentleness, not aggression.
Strength is encouragement, not intimidation.
Strength is sharing privilege, not accumulating it.
Strength is authenticity, not validation.
Strength is vulnerability, not status.
Strength comes from your heart, not your muscle.

Humorous Permission

We seem to be most authentic when wrapping information we wish to communicate in humour. It can be a thought-out joke, or a haha or an emoji appended to an end of a pseudo-serious sentence, but ultimately there is some sort of truth or genuine feeling being communicated. Humour gives us permission to be honest and vulnerable, because it incorporates an insurance policy. If the information wrapped in a joke becomes too serious or offensive, we can always claim we were trying to be funny.