Do you remember that epic moment in James Cameron’s 1997 Romantic Blockbuster Titanic; where a young Di Caprio’s body is ravaged by hypothermia in the ice-cold Atlantic, with both testicles shrunken and clad to his whinnie while he stares dead-eyed into Kate Winslet’s tits probably thinking, I won’t see this again when obviously there was space for two?

Or better still, El Romeo Montague who while suffering from depression chasing hard-to-get Rosaline meets a pretty Damsel Juliet Capulet, gets overwhelmed in love at first sight and decides both had to die for the name of love.

Honestly, we gotta give it up for James Cameron and William Shakespeare who probably by chance never imagined they will change the idea of love for the next millennia: Love built on fantasy!
What is Your Idea of Love?  I probably might have not lived long enough on Earth to claim to have sage knowledge on Love, but trust me I have seen the extremes: the good, the bad and the ugly.
In our world, love has been idealized to be the be-it-all to life. We are bombarded with love songs from crack-addicts who promise Heaven on Earth for a woman. Then we hear “Grenade” and all of a sudden we feel like Clark Kent saving the planet from a possible “Nuclear Hate Bomb”.
We watch movies like Titanic and conceptualize our idea of Love- a powerful emotion to cure all diseases.

The harsh truth about love:

Love isn’t the answer to all of Life’s problems

In the context of relationships, many of us see Love as a vaccine. So far as we are in love, we are immune to the ugly side of relationships: the hardships, fights, misunderstandings and terrible sex. Are we at fault? Well, our movies, songs, and stories all celebrate Love as life’s ultimate goal- the final solution for all our pain and struggle.
In Mark Manson thought-provoking article “Love is not enough” he says,

When we believe that “all we need is love,” then we’re more likely to ignore fundamental values such as respect, humility, and commitment towards the people we care about.

mark manson

If there is one truth we must understand:  healthy relationships (which must be the end goal) require more than emotions. Emotions are a roller coaster with unstable highs and lows.
At a point in my life, my love life sucked terribly. I was a pathetic loser. Had no self-esteem, and incredibly shy. I could not score a damsel to save my life. Then as if by design, I finally fell in love.

At first, I couldn’t believe my luck. She was the prettiest girl in the school! In the few days we spent together during the vacation, my sense of loneliness disappeared for a while, and as the nouveau-butterfly in the gut feeling subsided, I still felt the remnants of the feeling of unworthiness. I questioned why she loved me and would bug her anytime she didn’t call. I was basically a pain in the ass. She managed to take this bullshit for 8 months and called it quits. I was back to square one. A lonely fucker with shitty self-esteem.

Somewhere in my thoughts, I thought falling in love would solve my self-esteem issues but it didn’t. It was my responsibility to work on the cracks in myself, not the duty of a lofty passion/emotion called “love”.

“The problem with idealizing love is that it causes us to develop unrealistic expectations about what love actually is and what it can do for us”.

mark Manson

Love isn’t always worth sacrificing yourself for

Come on! You have sung the catchy hook of Bruno Mar’s Grenade. “But Darling I can catch a grenade for you… Throw my hand on a blade for you…Go through all this pain, take a bullet straight through my brain…” I call bull!!

One of the self-professed aspects of falling in love is being able to go out of your comfort (unselfishly) to cater for the needs of the other even sometimes to your detriment.
When feeling blue, we rationalize it is totally worth it! But then ask yourself circumspectly:

See, I am not saying, it is a terrible idea to sacrifice time, money or energy for someone you love. No! It is one of the parts of relationships that make it a wonderful venture.
But then if it comes at the cost of sacrificing your dignity, your life purpose, your self-respect, and your goals– then that same love is really questionable.

I recount, missing an exam to be with my girlfriend back then when she told me she had caught a cold and a headache. Being all jumpy and trying to win “Boyfriend of the Year Award” talked me out of writing the exam to buy her Pro Cold. Oh, Lord!!!! I know you probably are shell-shocked as to why I did this! But then people have worse stories than these.
People are being taken advantage of, are in abusive relationships: taking blows and pain every day yet still come back for more in the name of Love.  I find it absolutely insane to give up on your life purpose or a lifetime goal to be with someone. The stories you see in the movies are scripted and have no place in real life. Waaake up!!!!!

There are No Happily Ever After Endings:

If you are a Disney fan; from Cinderella to Snow White to Puss in Boots, there is always “They Lived Happily Ever After” before the credits roll. I bet it’s a pun. In Real life, there are no happily ever after. Our siblings suck the hell out of us, our partners sometimes bore us to nuts; these are the realities of life. There are no perfect endings. It takes work to make things like love work. You don’t sit in front of a mirror applying makeup all day expecting your love life to blossom.

Truth is: Love takes persistent work. There are bound to be problems which will only evolve into another and so on. Such is life. Quit the telenovela happy endings, it just doesn’t exist!

To end it, all, don’t be a martyr of Love like Jack in Titanic, who in a stroke of awesomeness decided to freeze to death when he obviously could have saved both.

Cheers DrC