Love is beautiful, captivating and ethereal. It’s the first instinct of a newborn, and the last thought for people on their deathbed.

With all its grandeur and popularity its increasingly becoming misunderstood and all that misunderstanding comes a lot of unnecessary heartaches.

Since I was a child I loved to love; my favorite movie is still Moulin Rouge. I remember I would write notes to my future beloved and talk about love as if I experienced it. My childhood, unfortunately, was not created on a healthy emotional foundation and I experience heartbreak, betrayal, and loss at a very young age. In my adult love life, I’ve suffered at the hands of my wrongful beliefs surrounding love and decided to embark on a personal journey to mend my heart and understand what love is and is not.

What Love is Not

The most popular understanding of love is selfish “romanticism”: the passion-filled, sex driven, and egotistical love. When boy meets girl, the boy asks the girl out, and they realize they were made for each other and travel off on their own to create something magical. Within the “magic” of the relationship, both parties are so focused on one another and enjoying the “love” they share, that they forget one primary…