Yesterday I was writing about love and romantic relationships, and how they can be a truly underrated source for finding meaning in one’s life, especially in today’s fast-paced, digital day and age. Now, you might say the notion of finding real meaning in love or romance is ridiculous in itself because, after all, how can we ever hope to find the true meaning of our own lives if we insist on searching for it externally? Well, I’m sure if you look around for just five minutes at the world we live in, you will realize that we are most definitely social creatures by nature, there’s just no denying it. Everybody’s constantly going back and forth about everyone and everything else. Honestly, a lot of the world’s problems would be avoided if we all kept to ourselves, if we all stayed out of each other’s business, if we stayed in our own lands and only lived by, or only socialized, married and procreated within, our own cultures. The problem with that is that, along with all the problems we would avoid, we would also get rid of so much of what makes life special, so much of what truly makes life worth living, like learning from and truly connecting with other cultures, finding influence in different ideas, and always finding new ways to look at and appreciate the great complexity of life and the world we live in. The fact that we would all hate to live in a world without travel or access to ideas or entertainment from other cultures is a testament to just how social we all are; how much we all want to connect, to understand others as well as be understood. It’s great to have friends, and to connect with them on a deeper level than we do with all the random people we also interact with, at work of wherever, so if the level of intimacy and connection can be pushed to an even deeper level, in other words a romantic relationship, we are definitely interested. We all want to connect because it is in our nature, and the deeper the relationship the better. It has to be with the right person, of course, but that’s what makes it even more special. Our friends are special to us because, in a sense, they are right for us. Similarly, a lot of times our family is also just right for us, and it’s great when that’s the case. Family members might share similar ideas or viewpoints, having grown up together and endured the same hardships together throughout the years, and the bond between siblings or any other kind of family members can often be indestructible. Our romantic partner then, is the most special of all, the person with whom we should feel completely comfortable to be ourselves, someone we can share our greatest hopes and dreams with, as well as the most mundane of moments. Connection is what we all truly live for, whether we admit it or not. The craziest loners might become the greatest of artists, and even if they remain loners after they’re recognized for their art, they are sharing some of themselves with their audience through their art, so there is a connection there. That might be enough for them, or it might not. I wouldn’t know, but I hope it is, just for their sake, and for when I hopefully get there myself. Anyway, as I said yesterday, even being somewhat of a perpetual loner, it’s been great sharing my life with my wife these past seven years, and it’s not like getting married was something I ever really look forward to, we just met and it went from there, it just happened in an amazing way that changed my life. Just to conclude on what I was saying at the start of this post though, finding meaning in a romantic relationship isn’t really searching for meaning externally, because when you start to really love someone you can feel definite changes happening within you, and you can feel that you are truly growing as a person. Sure, there might be anxiety as you come to grips with your new responsibility, but you might also come to a closer understanding of just how deep and beautiful life can be when we connect with others on a deep level, and after all, I would say the level of our appreciation for life, our world, and its people, is all that really matters at the end of the day.
If you have a few minutes check out my instrumental song ‘unconditional gratitude.’ I am unconditionally grateful to you!
rebel eye 