Love is a fickle thing, liquid and concrete all at the same time, seeping through the cracks to heal a broken heart. Yet, in modern times, many people search for the rush of love and its feeling in fleeting affairs, leading to the decline of true connections made and the rise of hookup culture – fast, casual flings, or relationships that only last weeks.
Love needs a personal connection in order to grow and flourish. People should seek love through their heart, not with their eyes.
Love should involve genuine connection. In its entirety, love is not just a feeling, but an experience, like all of the fluttering in your chest to the touch of brushing fingers. Searching for love through genuine connections builds a deeper understanding of each other, creating a strong bond that will enhance a romance along with the overall experience of the relationship.
Love should take time. For example, in Orestes, a Greek tragedy by Euripides, love is described as the willingness to stay. Amid betrayal, violence, and human frailty, the characters of the play convey a deep sense of devotion, the willingness to endure, to remain when everything else disintegrates. Regardless of whether love is platonic or romantic, it is a beautiful thing that needs time to grow. It manifests itself in many different ways, from the act of giving gifts to spending time together, leading to memories that both people will cherish. It’s a slow exploration, but well worth the time when love is treated with care and allowed to bring to fruition.
Love comes from loving yourself first. Love starts from the self, because if there is no love to give, there is none to receive. The soft, tender loving seen on the internet and various social media platforms don’t just pop up – it’s made, forged in the heart of deep connection, shaped in the loving hands of those in the relationship. What goes around, comes around; should you love the way you want to be loved, you will find it.
The whole purpose of hookup culture is to find love quick and fast, forgoing the build-up of a relationship to favor the rush, the ‘peak’ of love. While it does work, it’s a temporary solution to a long-term problem – when it’s over, it leaves an emptiness, an unfulfillment that lingers, an ache that begs to be soothed with a proper love. Hookup culture belittles the art and practice of love, the intricacies that is understanding your partner, along with the nuances that truly make you understand why you love someone.
Search for love with your heart.
