What Is Love?

What is Love?

Love

Love is a word often whispered in the quiet corners of our hearts, carries with it a whirlwind of emotions, experiences, and meaning. Defining it can be challenging, as it transcends any single definition.

Love is more than just a human emotion; it has significant influence over our mental and physical well-being. It is more like a force that helps to shape our everyday lives, guides our choices, and enriches our very existence. Love is a beautiful and positive emotion that can bring joy, personal fulfillment, and a sense of well-being. When we are loved properly, it forms the foundation of healthy relationships with ourselves and others.

Love can be defined in many different ways and can look like many different things, but love in its purest form is never toxic.

Healthy love is built on a foundation of trust, respect, and open communication. It allows us to grow, express ourselves, and feel safe and supported in relationships- relationships with have with ourselves and those that we have with others. True love is nurturing and empowering and should not cause us any harm or pain.

Recognizing The Difference Between Healthy Love and Toxicity

When love is healthy, there is mutual respect between partners. You value each other's opinions, boundaries, and autonomy. When it is unhealthy, disrespect becomes common. This can look a lot like demeaning one another, throwing insults or being dismissive of each other’s feelings. This is also true for the way that we love on ourselves. When we engage in self-love in the most proper way, we speak life and not death over ourselves. We affirm ourselves and strive to do our best to talk to ourselves like we truly are someone that we love.

How To Know When Love Has Become Toxic

Toxic Love

• Low Self-Esteem: Toxic love can erode your self-esteem and self-worth. You may notice that you have begun to feel unworthy, unlovable, or undeserving of happiness and respect.

• Ongoing Drama: Toxic relationships are often filled with drama, arguments, and emotional upheaval. Relationship begin to feel more like rollercoaster rides with extreme highs and lows.

• Dependency: You or your partner may become overly dependent on each other, to the point where you feel like you can't function without the other person, even if the relationship is unhealthy.

• Loneliness: Toxic love can also be incredibly lonely. You might feel isolated emotionally and disconnected.

• Loss of Individuality: Toxic love often involves a loss of individuality as you might lose sight of who you are and what you want outside of the toxicity of the relationship you currently have with yourself or with someone else.

• Emotional and Physical Pain: In the most severe cases, toxic love can lead to emotional and physical pain, including depression, anxiety, and even physical abuse by a partner or self-abuse.

Conclusion

Now that we have discussed what love is and what it isn’t it’s important to ask yourself if you are loving or being loved properly. Is the love that you give to yourself or to others pure, authentic, and shared in a way that causes no harm?

When the love that we give to ourselves or to someone else is toxic, we must take the necessary steps to address it. Seeking help from a therapist, counselor, or support network can be a valuable step in determining whether the relationship that you currently have with yourself or someone else can be transformed into a healthier one. If this is not an option, it may be necessary to remove yourself from the toxicity for the sake of personal well-being and safety.

Protect your peace at all costs.