Loves Me, Loves Me Not -9/30/15

Whether a romantic partner, a friend, parents, or another loved one, there are a few things that people do that, to me, means love even if it is not explicitly stated for one reason or another. Firstly, sacrifice. When someone makes the conscious decision to put your happiness, wants, and needs before their own, that is love. Going along with that concept, when someone shares in your happiness and triumphs, but is also there through the unhappy, darker times, they love you. There is a Swedish proverb that goes “Love me when I least deserve it, because that is when I really need it.” That is so true, and I take that as a sign of love. When someone loves you in all your moods, stages, crises, and takes you in all your forms, not just happy or smiling, that is love. When someone sees your “bad side” and still feels the same and cares just as much, it is a sign of love. Love is when, at times, they know you better than you know yourself. It is when you undergo personal growth to find yourself and who you really are, and they patiently wait to see what you find.

I also take being deeply protective as a sign of love. Whether it’s a mother smoothing her child’s hair and soothing them as they cries, a father cleaning up a scrape and making it feel better with a tight hug, a friend listening to venting for hours on the phone, or someone gently kissing their partner’s forehead, love can be shown by different people to different people in many different ways. While everyone likes hearing they are cared about and being told they are loved, actions do indeed speak louder than words in the end. Feeling unloved, like no one would even notice your absence, is one of the loneliest feelings in the world. Everyone should feel loved. Sometimes it is in the small things, the little, unconscious gestures that mean the most.