This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UWB chapter.
Our members that are a part of HCUWB decided to answer some questions about love. Here’s what they had to say! ❤️
- What does love mean to you?
- Answer 1: I think love (of all forms – familial, platonic, romantic) is an action and a choice, something you have to choose to do over and over, even when it can be difficult to. Love is work, HARD work, and that’s what makes it worth it to me. It’s an investment that goes both ways and stems from mutual respect for one another’s personhood and space.
- Answer 2: Love to me is a strong feeling of impact and care. It’s definitely not easy but the feeling of loving something or someone can really make you feel like this thing takes over your mind and becomes a role in your everyday life. It doesn’t even have to be romantic because you can truly love anything your heart touches and it can be motivation but it can also be pain.
- Answer 3: I think love should go both ways but it often goes one way. Not all your family members love you so much and your lover sometimes loves others. Love is difficult, so it is beautiful. Just like butterflies are beautiful when they fly in the sky, you can never catch them and have them.
- Answer 4: Love, to me, is a constant feeling that is a reciprocal relationship between two or more people. It is complicated and messy but incredibly magical at the same time. There are so many differing ways to show and receive love.
- Who do you love and why?
- Answer 1: I love my internet friends. I love that they’re always there for me, and so supportive, keeping this constant well of friendship in my pocket. I love that I can reach out for digital hugs and they’re always there, and likewise, I am there for them in turn. Anyone who says that internet friends are less than IRL friends has never known what it’s really like to be connected to people across the world through the kindness we have to offer each other through our little screens.
- Answer 2: While I don’t think I’m quite there yet… I’d like to work myself up to loving myself. For me personally, I often feel like there’s really no one as hard on me as I am on myself. Especially looking back at my younger self, I was so terribly hard on myself to the point where it was almost a hatred for myself and I definitely do regret how hard I was. There was no reason for me to feel such self hatred. It’s so important to love myself so that I can push myself to work harder and make improvements everyday in a positive light as opposed to a negative manner that makes me feel terrible.
- Answer 3: I have been working on self love for a few years now and I think ironically enough this pandemic has helped me get over a big hump in that journey. I gained weight, which has been a huge issue for me and my mental health in the past and during the pandemic, but I am the most content with myself now. I have also gone through very difficult mental health struggles during this pandemic. Gaining coping mechanisms has been so crucial to my self love journey. I owe it to myself to be happy and love who I am because I am the only one who is with me every waking moment.
- Answer 4: I really love my family, my friends, and my cats (Brownie and Miko). I always enjoy being with them, and they give me a lot of support and strength. I also love myself so much because I think I have to love myself first before I can love others well.
- How do you express your love towards others?
- Answer 1: Gift giving is a big expression of mine. I think it partially has to do with the fact that I love shopping so whenever something reminds me of someone, I just like buying it and gifting it.
- Answer 2: I just love telling people words of encouragement or mentioning their hard work. For me, that is what I appreciate the most so I feel the most comfortable telling people what I am thinking. I also like to do constant little checkups with my friends and family to show consistent support.
- Answer 3: I express my love best through my time. The time I spend with family and friends, or the time I set aside to do things for them (which lops over into gift-giving). I think a huge part of expressing love for my family and friends also comes from being able to listen to them, and respect them enough to know they’ll listen too when it’s my turn to talk. I also try to tell them my feelings—if not usually by saying “I love you,” but by saying, “this made me think of you,” or “you’re important to me.” Stuff like that.
- Answer 4: I make them breakfast and dinner and spend time with them. I think actions express emotions better than words.
- When was a time you were touched by someone’s gesture for you?
- Answer 1: There are times I just ramble on and on and half the time I don’t even remember what I said if I’m being honest. Whenever it comes up in a future conversation that the other person brings up something I said in the past and didn’t even remember, it’s really touching to me because it feels like I was truly being listened to.
- Answer 2: Recently a friend of mine gave me a small gift for Valentines Day, completely unprompted, and it made my whole week. The gift was small but I appreciated her even thinking of me when she was out looking for gifts for her partner. I have the gift sitting in my desk and whenever I look at it, I smile.
- Answer 3: I am frequently touched by the care my best friend expresses to me. I’ve had a lot of friendships that felt like I cared a lot more and put in a lot more, so it means so much when, over and over, this friend proves to me that she cares just as much as I do, and that we’re committed to each other. I love that we’re on each other’s minds so mutually.