By Bianca Marie France E. Viadan

How do relationships work? And how we keep something that is always hard to keep and acknowledge as ours. We people love to be loved, but no matter how hard we try and no matter how much we sacrifice to keep something and someone in our lives, there are still chances for us to lose them.

The word “LOVE” often refers to falling in love romantically. It is an experience that is always described as something special, breathtaking, and magical. We grew up watching young ladies meeting their knight in shining armor, a prince with a handsome face, an amazing personality, and a perfect man anyone can dream of. A childlike fantasy we wish to have when we grow up, to be a princess and live in our own castle with the prince we love. But as we grow older, we experience and see the difference between the reality of LOVE and a Disney Story’s happily ever after.

Not all love stories have a happy ending but not all end up tragically, few of them are as beautiful as what we have watched in movies, books, and novels. Lucky are those who have found someone who has brought their childhood princess dream into reality. Love is not only about how a person falls in love with a stranger once, but it is also about keeping the same amount of love to the people who have always been a constant part of our lives. Our family, our friends, and the people we meet by chance bring us experiences that will teach us lessons to make us stronger.

We humans take the word “LOVE” lightly, and that is why we may have intentionally or unintentionally hurt ourselves and the people who genuinely love us. I have loved and fallen in love many times and in those times, I have also broken my heart multiple times for loving the wrong ones. We always end up making sacrifices to make the people we love happy, and we are even ready to overlook our own happiness just to give them everything. It is not wrong to love, but what makes it wrong is when you start to lose yourself because of love.

Everything needs to have a balance; you need to remember that we need to learn how to love ourselves first before loving someone else. From the moment we are born, the day we learn how to speak, and the time we see and understand reality, despite our shortcomings, imperfections, and the mistakes we make, we must learn how to continue moving forward while forgiving ourselves. Regrets will always be a part of our journey, there will be battles and wars we need to face alone, to choose who are worthy to keep, and who are the ones we need to let go. In times of struggles and pain, we can only rely on our faith and our own self, so learn how to be kind to yourself, choose yourself, and get through it.

It’s okay to be LOST sometimes; we will all go through that point in our lives when we don’t know which way to go after many betrayals and heartbreaks. Someone will make you feel like you are unworthy to be pursued and fought for, but believe me, more than anyone else, you are more deserving to receive that same LOVE that only in you can be FOUND.

Don’t let LOVE break you, rather let it bring the best version of you so you will know how to love and to be loved the right way. The people we love will not love us as much as we love them and not all people that we thought is worth fighting for will fight as hard to keep us, but always remember that someone from up above can see that kindness and genuine love in your heart and will eventually send you the right ones.

We love because he first loved us.

1 John Chapter 4 Verse 19

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