Our soul mate is the one who makes life come to life. – Richard Bach quotes

I’ve been on a quest for love my whole life. I wanted to give love and I wanted to receive love. In the beginning of 2013, I decided to make it my mission to be “in love”. I settled on the word “love” for my One Word Resolution to help expedite this process along.

This journey towards love has not been easy. I was duped by fairy tales thinking love ends in “happily every after”. Does anyone really know what happens after “happily ever after” anyways? I’ve never seen the script for the day after the magical kiss at sunset. I do, however, have an idea of what it is supposed to be. Me and I may soul mate would live in perfect bliss all the days of our lives. Love would be smooth sailing.

I couldn’t be more wrong. Love has shown me that it takes a lot of work. There are many challenges and obstacles to overcome.  There are hard truths you must swallow. There are walls to be torn down. Your heart is going to break from time to time. You are going to hurt that person and they are going to hurt you. You are going to battle trust issues. At times, you are going to want to abandon the relationship completely.

As love continues to distort my way of thinking, I realize that love’s way is better. The pain, the heartache, and the obstacles are all needed to achieve love – the affection, the assurance, and the devotion from another person.

In your own quest for love, if you are ever so lucky to meet your soul mate, I hope you don’t run away. I hope you invite them in and allow them to challenge you and break your heart open so you can uncover the person you were always supposed to be. Only then, can you love completely unabandoned, reckless, and free 🙂