The Meaning Of Life. Really.
It's been said that the meaning of life is to find happiness. To some, this means wealth, fame, and prestige. Others focus less on their external environment and more on their internal one - becoming a better person than they were before. Still others say that it's not about striving for any specific thing but instead absorbing what you can from the world around you.
The problem is: all of them are wrong. The meaning of life isn't happiness or self-improvement or knowledge - it hits a little closer to home than that: it's love.
What does it mean to be in love? Is it simply a sense of comfort and contentment, or is it the most passionate, passionate feeling there is? Maybe it's about finding someone who is compatible with you - someone who shares your similarities and functions as a mirror for your own thoughts. Maybe it's about finding someone to spend your days with - sharing thoughts and feelings, happy memories, laughter. Maybe you feel guilty when you don't think of them sometimes.
Maybe it's being mistaken for each other without even knowing that they're there. Maybe they're the last thing you think of before you go to sleep at night. Maybe it's the uncontrollably bubbly feeling that comes with being near them - the tingling sensation when your skin brushes against theirs. Maybe you feel like an idiot whenever you're around them, but you don't mind.
Maybe it's about finding someone who understands everything about you and loves you for it. Maybe it's about constantly learning from each other, or maybe the only thing you do is learn from each other. Maybe it's about becoming better because of that - because of their presence in your life, because of their support and belief in you, because they make you a better person than you were before. Maybe it's about feeling like you're finally where you should be, like you've found your place in the world. Maybe it's about the two of you being a team, fighting for and with each other.
Maybe it's about always having someone who cares for you when the world has left you behind. Maybe it's about being there for them as well when they don't have anyone else to turn to. Maybe it's about so much more than what meets the eye - maybe love is far more complex than just a single emotion. It can be both simple and complicated at once - every person has their own definition of what love is, their own calculation that goes into deciding whether or not they're in love with someone.
Maybe it's about working through the problems that come with being in love - like your partner not being attractive to you anymore now that they're gaining weight or no longer meeting society's standard of beauty. Maybe it's about dealing with the inevitable disagreements and arguments that come with the day-to-day ickyness of living with another person, or maybe it's about finding someone who understands you completely, understands all your faults, quirks, and imperfections.
Maybe it's about understanding as well - understanding what your partner wants from you and what they expect of you. Maybe it's about finding someone who respects you for who you are and not trying to change you into something else. Maybe it's about finding someone who you don't feel the need to apologize for when you're around them - someone who looks up to and supports you no matter what. Maybe it's about someone who isn't afraid to take chances with you, or perhaps it's the other way around and they make the first move.
Maybe it's a constant challenge - spending each day trying to prove your love for each other, trying to show them how much they mean to you and that you're willing to do anything for them. Maybe neither of you are particularly good at this sort of thing, but somehow, through sheer determination and willpower, it becomes second nature. Maybe it's building that trust and support between you, where you know they're always going to be there when you need them and vice versa.
Maybe it's being there for them when they're down, helping them achieve all their goals and dreams. Maybe it's lifting each other up during the good times, making each other feel even better about yourselves than before. Maybe it's about learning and growing together, about having someone by your side who will support you in whatever life throws your way - maybe it's about being a team both on the inside and the outside.
Maybe it's a sense of belonging - a feeling of being connected to someone else in every way possible. Maybe it's about knowing that someone is always there for you and that you are always there for them. Maybe it's about learning to open up to them, to trust them completely with everything that makes up the person that you are. Maybe it's about learning the darkest corners of each other, exploring every single room of this house, and finding a place where your hearts can meet. Maybe it's about realizing that they are your home - knowing that they are your refuge when all else fails - maybe it's knowing exactly where you belong in the world.
Maybe love is exactly what life is all about - maybe the meaning of life is love. Without love, we are nothing. Without love, there is no meaning.
If you love someone with all your heart and soul, the world becomes a better place - everything is more beautiful and bright, everything is worth living for. If you love someone and they don't feel the same way, you can't change that - but at least you know that they made your life a little better while they were here. That kind of love is enough to make every second worth living - it's enough to make life worth living twice as much as it was before.
And if you fall in love with someone and they do not share the same feelings towards you... don't be afraid of that, don't be afraid to make sure that your feelings are true - if you love them, then the world can wait. If you love someone with all your heart and soul, nothing else will matter.
The best thing about being in love is that it's a feeling you can usually never get back once it's gone - experience will teach you that much. The worst part of being in love is that when it does happen... it's over just as fast as it began. But for every minute spent with someone who makes your heart skip a beat, every second spent holding their hand... is worth more than any amount of money in the world. But if they're not there to hold your hand anymore... then what's the point?
And if you have someone in your life who you love with all your heart and soul, who knows how much better life can be - two people with nothing holding them back from working towards a common goal... two people from being complete strangers to each other, growing and learning together. Two people who are never truly alone because they have something to hold on to - something bigger than themselves, something worth fighting for.
They will make you a better person with their presence in your life - they will inspire everything about you and make it all worthwhile just by the mere fact of them existing.
Conclusion:
You can't love someone unless you understand them... unless you know exactly what they want and exactly what you need to do for them. You can't love someone if you hate them, or hate them if you don't understand them. You can't love someone if they're not there anymore - it's finally time to move on and find someone who'll love you the same way back. This is all about knowing yourself, knowing what love is, what true love is - knowing that true happiness lies within the lines of this page.
Make sure that your feelings are real - make sure that they're real by sharing them with the world.