Love. Songs are written about it, movies revolve around it, poetry is inspired by it… it is everywhere. Truly, love makes the world go round. But, there are different kinds of love–familial, platonic, and romantic are the most usual forms. But, the one that seems to really get to us is romantic love. We pay tarot readers to find out about our romantic futures, love ballads become big hits, and entire plays are dedicated to love and all its tribulations.
Today, we’re going to take a deep dive into the three kinds of romantic love that most of us go through in life before we meet our soulmate.
Puppy Love
Your first love usually happens when you are young. Most of the time, it happens when you are just a teenager. This love is like a teenage romance movie–it’s full of butterflies and sweet kisses. It’s important to you that this relationship should look perfect to people around you. The boy you are with is generally someone your parents approve of and he is usually popular. Both of you make the perfect Insta couple just oozing with young love.
But, usually this love is built on perceptions rather than reality. This person is perfect for you in society’s eyes but they may not be compatible with you in the long term. Once you grow out of the honeymoon phase of being the “perfect” couple, this love will end.
Hard Love
This love is similar to a drug addiction–it comes with extreme highs and extreme lows. Usually, there is a lot of drama. You get into passionate fights and you end up breaking up with your partner, just to get back together with them soon after. This then becomes a toxic cycle where you break up, feel miserable without each other, and then you go back. You feel a rush of love when you make up, and continue like before, only to break up once more. The cycle then starts all over again.
Hard love teaches you important lessons like setting boundaries, breaking toxic cycles of behaviour, and self love. You realise that you have to think of making yourself happy first before you can think of making your partner happy.
You come out of this relationship with pain and heartbreak, only to become a stronger and wiser person.
Lasting Love
This love happens when you least expect it. It does not come with the crazy passion of hard love, it comes from the still waters of respect. It is love that happens organically just by spending time with a person, and then realising that you work well with each other.
This love usually comes with respect for each other, with healthy boundaries, and with deep understanding. Unlike hard love, it is not a raging fire that burns out but is more of a slow burning flame that lasts.
All three kinds of romantic love end up teaching us what we should expect from a healthy long-term relationship. Some people are lucky enough to find lasting love at the first go. But, for most people, you have to experience puppy love and hard love before meeting a person who builds lasting love with you.
