What does romantic love mean to you?

Post Reply New Topic

I guess it’s all in the title.

Sometimes on WP, I’m surprised by the apparent cynicism that some have towards love. Obviously, we all have different opinions and experiences, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not necessarily a static thing, either. I was very cynical about it for a while. Being in an abusive relationship will often have that effect. I found movies with a love story hard to watch, and there’d be a lot of . Anyway, at this point, even if I don’t experience it again, I still like the idea of it. I’ll share more of my thoughts in a post.

Serious, silly, and silly-serious comments are welcome but no criticism of others’ views please.

(I was going to start a thread to ask questions about my Only Fans page, but I thought that y’all would find this topic more engaging.)

Lots of affectionate and intimate moments with each other.

Yep what @CryingForHelp said and also being with each other & being close to each other

aligning with and furthering each other

I think there can be a big difference between romantic love & love with a romantic partner. Romantic love is like the way Hollywood romance is portrayed. There's lots of emphasis on scenery, romantic moments, & how the couple feels at that exact moment in time. I'm anti-romantic but if I was rich & wanted to be a romantic prince charming I could hire an assistant to send flowers to her work every day, plan couples vacations to Hawaii & Italy, buy her expensive jewelry, & pay a poet to write poems about her that I could recite To me that's a bunch of fluff & I care aLOT more about substantive things. Love with a romantic partner to me is based on things like respect, trust, loyalty, & being supportive of each other. We both majorly care about each other & do our best to be there for each other & help each other.

I meant "love with a romantic partner." There's a limit to how long thread titles can be.

Understanding. Comfort. Togetherness.

Mutual support, encouragement, and honesty.

Emotional intimacy that grows strong enough to lead to physical intimacy.

Mystery, delayed gratification, longing.

Farting without shame.

Something like this but stronger:

“As I experience certain sensory input patterns, my mental pathways become accustomed to them. The inputs eventually are anticipated and even missed when absent."

Love is mud.

for me its always been men fighting over me whitch isnt very romantic i know

I think that falling in love is not a choice. However, falling is not enough. You have to get up once you've fallen. That's where the decision lies.

You have to choose each other. Time and time again. To be a part of each other's life whilst also having a life of your own.

I've never liked the term 'other half' because there's almost an implication that you're not whole. Not complete without each other. I don't want to search for someone who completes me because I'm already complete.

Perhaps it is easy to fall into a gamification of the idea of romance. Sometimes I hear people talk about deserving love. This has always irked me in a way that I find difficult to describe. I don't think it's a matter of who does and who doesn't deserve love. Rather, love simply exists. It's an act. A verb. A continuous decision. Not an obligation or an item on a checklist.

Romantic love. Hm. If I think about what I would want with a partner, someone I could live with and share life with and such, I think about small things. I think about someone who might ask me if I need a refill on my coffee as they go to refill theirs, grab my cup for me and let me sit a bit more..someone I could do the same for. I think about someone I can sit and shut up with and simply exist in the same space with no need to fill space with noise or some distraction for their comfort or mine. I think of someone who takes up space in my brain and how I like it that they do, and if I'm really lucky, they like me taking up space in their brain as well. Someone who makes my world better because they are in it. Ideally, romantic love involves someone who has a chance in hell of actually 'getting' me on some level or another. It would be nice.

Pleasant things said... romantic love is work. It's some of the hardest stuff I have ever had to do. It means losing independence and being okay with it. It means trying to find a balance of what you need to do to be able to be something worthwhile to them while not wrecking yourself in the process...not because it's comfortable, but because you would do that gladly for them because they are that amazing and absolutely worth the efforts. It means sacrifice, loss, pain, compromise, growth, and so much more. It means being pushed out of your comfort zone and being uncomfortable, afraid, unsure, vulnerable, insecure and so much more that I can't really get a handle on. Romantic love is terrifying to me. But sometimes someone comes along who is worth being scared for.