Living in Love Award: Submission: I Love You!
Another submission for the Living in Love Award! There are now 4 bloggers in the running for this award, and two finalists. The newest submission comes again from Sustainable Utopia. The second step to earning the Award is Defining Love for your readers and blogging about it. Please check out Lesley’s blog, for her second submission.
There! I said it, and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
But, wait a second, why did I assume it would be hard? What has happened in human history that has made it so difficult to say those three little words?
Think about it for a second. How many times a day do you actually say these words to yourself or another person? Some people, if they’re lucky, probably a handful of times. Most people, maybe only once or twice. There are also far too many people out there who neither say it, nor hear it in their daily lives. And that’s NORMAL! So normal, in fact, that just the mere thought of saying it outside of a daily ritual can make someone with nerves of steel as anxious as a gazelle in a lion’s den.
How did “I Love You” become scary?
I’ve noticed that “I Love You’s” come in two categories; 1) I Love You’s said ritualistically that the words become almost meaningless, and 2)I Love You’s said so infrequently, that when they are said they make the sayer look crazy.
In the first category, the Ritual “I Love You”, it is often exchanged as more of a greeting or departing statement than a declaration of affection. Good morning, “I Love You”. Good bye, “I Love You”. Have a good day, “I Love You”, See you tomorrow, “I Love You”. None of these are bad, but they’re habit. The words are said and heard so often that they lose their importance. People begin to feel under-appreciated, no matter how often they hear the phrase, because the actions that would confirm the “I Love You” are often neglected.
I think to avoid falling into the “I Love You” rut, we should try to make an effort to be aware of when we’re saying the words, and always try to follow them up with an action of some kind. Oh, I just said it, I should go give a hug as well. We could also make telling someone you love why you love them a priority as well. You’re kind, and generous and you always make me smile, I Love You. The whole point of telling someone you love them is, after all, to convey how important they are to you. When the words become mundane, we should all strive to give them back the importance they deserve.
The second category of “I Love You” is the one that has me the most baffled. It’s the why-did-this-person-just-tell-me-this “I Love You”. You all know what I’m talking about. It’s the reason we tell people we “heart” them, or that we “Luv” them. It’s so that they don’t think we’re nuts and mushy, or, gasp, In Love with them. When did we become ashamed of our feelings? Why is it considered embarrassing to Love your friends? Okay, that may be taking it a bit far. We are definitely expected to love our friends, but we can only tell them that we do at special events like weddings and funerals.
I want to tell people I Love them. I don’t want to feel shy about it, or self-conscious. I don’t want to worry about making my husband jealous because I happen to Love a male friend. Just because I love my husband, does not mean I can’t Love my friend. It doesn’t mean I Love one more or less than the other, it means I Love them both. I’m not making room for more than one in my heart, I’m letting my heart grow bigger to accommodate everyone.
I want to be able to tell my male friends that I Love them without worrying that they think I’m “In Love” with them. I’d like to be able to tell my female friends that I Love them without the inevitable innuendos. I don’t want to tip toe around my feelings because they make others uncomfortable. I don’t want other people to be uncomfortable about my feelings. I don’t even particularly care if they return the sentiment. I just want to tell them. Does that make me a crazy person, or does it make everyone else jaded?
Love is for everyone. Not just married people, or blood relatives, or for couples, or single people. It’s for everyone, and we should be able to shout it from the rooftops if we want to. So my challenge to you, my readers, is to tell someone today that you Love them. Say it with conviction, with action and without apologies.
Thanks for reading!
♥ ❤ ❥ I LOVE YOU GUYS ♥ ❤ ❥
Great piece. I LOVE you (the writer)! Very thoughtful. Recently a friend – my best friend in kindergarten, in fact – had gone through a stem-cell transplant. He was 1,000 miles awa in another state. I phoned him. He was in a weakened state, so the conversation was very short. I needed to tell him. At the end of the conversation I said, “I love you, guy.” It clearly caught him off guard. “Oh, well…thank you,” he said. There was quiet. “We’ve been friends for a long time,” I said. “Remember Wade and building the box trap to catch the groundhog that was eating the vegetables in the nursing home’s garden?” “Yeah” he said, and laughed, and we were back to “normal,” whatever normal is. Ted died this winter. I hope he remembered. Whether it meant much to him, it meant the world to me. I did not want him to go without knowing how much he meant to me…way back then…or now.
I am positive the words meant a great deal to him. Men friends can be so obtuse with each other but the feelings are there just the same.
I’m also confident of that. Thanks!
Very nice writing!
I’m glad you wrote this. I was afraid of what you might think the other day when I nominated you for that award and I sent it to you with love. I am so glad you are OK with it.
I would never be upset to receive your Love. It is amazing how hard it is to tell someone that we Love them. For me, I often get myself in trouble throwing that word around. I have lost people because I am too quick to say the word Love. But this seems so silly. I will not stop saying it. It must be said. Always remember, I Love you too.
i love you become scary..because we are so afraid to love and above all let the other love us.Entire Our life longing for love, but first we Don’ t know how to offer it …
love …not only feel … love is communication, love is proof..
love is very deep meaning..
I hope you excuse my mistakes. I try to write correctly in English (I’m from Romania).
Your meaning comes through and your English is much better than my Romanian!
:)) I enjoy very much. then keep in touch 😉
I absolutely love what you’ve written about saying those powerful, contagious three words! It’s so mazing how you can start saying them to more and more people and they start to do the same. Keep writing! I enjoy reading your posts. Oh and I LOVE YOU TOO!
Thanks for the inspirational words. We are too shy at expressing kindness to others. And often we are not very good at accepting kind words from others. But isn’t this what God intended us to do – to love each other?