If you know me personally, then you also know that I am an extremely romantic and love oriented person. I like to think of myself as someone abundantly full of love and I'm more than willing to spread it all around.
When I was younger, I fell in love with the idea of love and believe it or not, I use to be more hopeless than I am now. Whether it was movies, books, songs, or in my own writing, love was a constant underlying factor. It's something I've always been intrigued by.
I've spent a good portion of my life trying to understand and define love, but I've realized now that I can't and probably never will be able to.
Love falls on such a huge spectrum of emotions that no string of words would ever be able to describe it perfectly.
Everyone has their own definition and experiences, and being curious, I ardently set off on a mission and asked a few Wichita State students what love personally meant to them. It ended up being a huge eye-opener and life lesson for me.
"To me, love is not just good times, but also bad times. Love is coming home, being annoyed after a long day, but seeking solace in the company of your life partner. You don't plan for love and you don't look for it. It just happens. Love is forever growing; there's isn't a stopping point. It's a continuous process." -Andrea
"With family, love will always be there even if your family isn't. In terms of personal relationships and significant others, love is temporary or extremely rare and one in a million. I think we all want to believe true love exists, but I don't think it does. I think you can be interested in someone, but eventually your feelings and emotions for someone will change." -Carleigh
"I think love is honesty, trust, and just caring about the other person. Love is unconditional; you get it from your friends, family, significant others, and you can find it in different places. And like, sometimes, love is a one sided thing, it doesn't have to be returned. I don't really know what love is, but it's something you're passionate about." -Claudia
"Love is finding someone you’re 100% comfortable with in every way. Even 75% of the time, you absolutely hate the person, but they still make you crazy as well. Finding someone that drives you to be the best possible version of you that you can be to impress them. I’d said that love is like there’s a void inside of you that you didn’t know was there and one day, you’re with someone that makes you realize what you were missing before and you can’t imagine living without it." -Jeremy
"When you have a gravitational pull to be with someone and no matter what, you'd be willing to make sacrifices for that person. You put that person before yourself and the feeling is unconditional." -Justin
"Personally, I'm trying to figure it out at the age of 23. I can't tell you what love is exactly. I think it varies depending on who you ask. To me, love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not rude. It keeps no record of wrong. But I think there is such a thing as tough love and it has the ability to hurt someone, but at the same time, it can help someone grow. I think when you love someone, you're willing to be honest with them and honesty hurts sometimes. Some people think of love as the type that makes you feel good, but love has the ability to hurt." -Joseph
"Love is a feeling and a verb that compels you and commits you to something. You can love the people that hurt you most because no matter what, you are compelled to be attached to them for better or for worse. Love isn't always healthy, but at the very least, it is a compelling force."-Kenon
"Love means you care for that person and you wish for the best for that person and you want to spend the rest of your life with them." -Kim
"Love is what makes life beautiful. Love comes in many forms. Love is interpreted in many ways....
I, myself, do not use the word too often. Perhaps, for me, it is a comfort thing because I question who and what I truly do love. A few things come to mind. I often tell people that I cannot live without music... Love in this context, is not the same that you would use for loving another person. But to me, love in this context is for having a deep understanding and respect the for the art, no matter what form it may be. You could say music saved my life. I can say that I enjoy all aspects of music, whether it be the discovery, sharing, or simply listening. These are some the reasons that I can say that I love music....
This is the other side of love. Love is the idea that you would want to be with someone, even if time will not allow for you to. Love, to me, I believe to be when one fully honors and admires the body, soul, and spirit of another. Love is when one is capable of being empathetic and understands another's emotional state. Love is being able to put yourself in another's shoes and shoulder their share of the task. Love is when you are willing to share the pain another goes through. Love is when you develop the strength to be strong for others. Love is when you are able to feel what others are feeling. True love is a difficult ideology to fully display....
And with love, I would like to think that all can be conquered. Practically, it is not. It can't conquer a terminal illness, but love makes us morally stronger. When we are blinded by life, love is there to keep us in check.
Maybe you have had the roughest day of your life, but love is the motivating factor that makes you want to get dressed just to hear her voice and see her face in person. It is the longing of wanting to feel connected and relevant to someone you truly, madly, and deeply care about that makes us feel loved." -Michael
"For me, when it comes to love, I think about sacrifice. No matter if it's a friend, family, whoever, you have to sacrifice time, money, your well being, etc. Sometimes it's good to have a sacrificial love and sometimes it's bad. But at the end of the day, you're doing what you do because you love what you do." -Richy
"To me, love is caring for someone more than you could possibly care for yourself. Love is finding that person who challenges you, who brings out the best in you. And love is impossible to define even when you're in it." -Sam
"To me, love is definitely just the word 'acceptance'. Whether that be romantic relationships or friendships, I think love is defined by acceptance. Because first off, you need to love and accept yourself, and then you'll be able to feel accepted, validated, and loved by others because you'll know who you are and you'll be able to show others your genuine self. I feel like in our society today, acceptance is really hard to take on. Everyone has something to say because of their personal preferences, but I definitely think love is acceptance because we need to be able to accept others for who they are to be able to spread the love." -Samantha
---------------
Thank you so much to these wonderful people for their cooperation, time, and permission to post their responses/pictures!
