Skip to main content

How to talk about love

    
one of my favorite movies and books

“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.”——the fault in our stars

    When we say forever, we know that it can never be a forever because we could die every day or every moment. The commitment is a reckless decision that only people in love will have the courage and certainty to think about a forever with another person in it. It is insane but amazing. 

    Another week of job hunting without progress, but I do have some reflections about my dating life and love in general. One of my friends asked me how I would feel when I am in love. I told her that I felt so happy at the beginning of the relationship that I just want to dance on the street while walking. It feels like you are not walking, but you are flying. The feeling that you are not alone to face the cruel world makes everything seem brighter and gentler to you. I know that being in a relationship is not always happy and reassuring, but if the pain overweighs the happiness, then it is better to leave the toxic relationship. I used to compare dating to job interviews. The swiping process is like scanning CVs. The change of platforms from Bumble to Whatsapp is like a first interview to a second interview, which implies you want to have some real-life contacts. Then there is the final interview which is the first date in the real life. However, a lot of candidates dropped out during the trial period which is the time from the first date to make a kind of commitment such as exclusive dating or a relationship. The dating experience is always about some basic standards and luck (chemistry), just like job hunting. 

    When I was young, I dreamed to become a relationship expert who can solve people's issues in relationships through podcasts. I like to collect different definitions of love and I find it beautiful.

    I was taught if we're born with love then life is about choosing the right place to put it. People talk about that a lot, feeling right, when it feels right it's easy. But I'm not sure that's true. It takes strength to know what's right. And love isn't something that weak people do. Being a romantic takes a hell of a lot of hope. I think what they mean is.. when you find somebody that you love, it feels like hope. ——Fleabag

    “爱是擦干净你的生活,擦干净你的心”(Love is wiping your life clean and wiping your heart clean)

       C'est le temps que tu as perdu pour ta rose qui fait ta rose si important. ——Le Petit Prince

    These definitions imply love is hope, love is a way of making your life better, and love is investing precious time in someone. For me when I start to like someone, the feeling lights up my life and offers me a small candle so that I can hold it to explore the future in the darkness. Love for me is all about the great and amazing things that make people become kinder and softer. It tells us how to put others' needs on our priority, how to actively communicate with each other's needs, and try to find a balance where both of us can feel happier and more comfortable. In this process, there will be arguments and disagreements. But I also learned a lot by sticking to the relationship despite all the difficulties instead of giving it up easily. The determination of love can be a motivation to envision a future with each other and make the dream come true. Love feels like a home that shelters you and supports you to do what you want despite fear and worries. In this sense, Love is the freedom of following your heart and giving it a try. 

    Even though life can be depressing from time to time, I never feel disappointed about love. 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Being a foreigner in Italy

      I just finished my trip in Italy and I like it so much that I can't tolerate hearing Dutch again during the boarding process for my return trip.       The good thing about being a foreigner in Italy is that actually I dare to face unknown difficulties compared to my boyfriend, especially the language barrier. We accidentally took the wrong train and came to a neighborhood where you couldn't see any tourists. And I wanted a gelato there so we were waiting in line. There were only Italian speaking in that small shop. I managed to buy the ice cream I wanted in the end and was so happy that I even took a selfie with the ice cream.       I may be so good at enduring the embarrassment when I can see that other people try to understand me because I am not speaking the local language or speaking the local language with my own accent, wrong word order, and incorrect pronunciations. In Belgium, I constantly need to figure out what other people talk about and sometimes I feel like I

More than a friend: book review of loveless

    Abnormal sunny weather returned to Belgium again and I started to enjoy the autumn there. Another word for autumn is fall, which depicts a scene of yellow leaves falling from trees, swirling in the wind, and gently falling to the ground. In my hometown, there are more evergreen trees, but there is one specific tree called  Ginkgo (银杏) which turns all the leaves yellow in autumn. When I was young, my mom worked in a medicine company producing traditional Chinese medicine. She told me that there was one product that used Ginkgo leaves to treat heart-related diseases and laughed at me when I thought they used golden Ginkgo leaves for medicine. When leaves are turning yellow, they are reaching nearly the end of life journey. However, they do provide pleasure for kids and adults like me rustling on fallen leaves. Ginkgo is a tree native to China. No wonder I don't find them in Belgium.      I sat on the bench, bathing under the sunshine, and read the book loveless . I find the rela

It's a long long journey

     As the plan of studying for a history master's degree failed, I went back to looking for a job. However, this road is not easy as well. Who knows if this is a detour or a shortcut before you ever try it?      Meanwhile, I decided to continue my research as a sociologist and amateur historian. I will try to discover free sources to support my research as soon I could not access to the university's library system. Also, I created this blog in case I want to become a writer.       So, welcome to my first practice of writing!     Last night, I read a book called a little history of the world by E.H. Gombrich . It is a birthday gift from my best friend to celebrate my new passion for history. Yes, at that time, I was busy writing my thesis proposal on my birthday for the application to the master of the history program at KU Leuven.  a little history of the world  by   E.H. Gombrich      A fun fact: this master of history program is the only history program taught in English.