In 7th grade I dated a guy for 1 day and then we broke up. Why? He was not performing the bells and whistles of proving his love to me. I was not “feeling” him, therefore, I ended it. BOOM! No mercy here. I had this idea of how I wanted my man to express the grandeur of love to me through our dating relationship and I would not settle for anything less.
When teaching in
class, we define love for the
students as, doing what is best for the
other person. You would be amazed by how many of them think that love, to
be true, must have feelings. Those warm and fuzzy feeling are simply
infatuation but they are neither good nor bad. These infatuating feelings can
sometimes lead to love.
I can assure you, it
is possible to be infatuated with someone and not do what is loving for them.
Think about celebrities… I am one of the world’s newest Swifty fans. I LOVE HER
1989 ALBUM! If I saw Taylor Swift out walking down the street you bet I would
express my infatuation for her talent. But it would not be very loving, if I
tackled her causing her to get hurt. The loving thing to do would be to shake
her hand and say thank you, right? We have all heard those stories of celebrity
fan sightings and restraining orders happening as a result of them going overboard.
So, yes it is possible to be infatuated with another person and not do what is
loving for them.
Can you authentically
love another person and not be infatuated with them? It might be surprising to
hear, but yes this is possible as well. If anyone has ever been irritated with
their parents or annoyed with their siblings then they can recognize this truth.
My brother and sister are 8 years younger than me. Yep, I am a third-wheel to
their twin bond for life. Haha. They are my favorite people and I love them
very much (I do what is best for them). When we were living under the same
roof, I would get home from school and walk into my room to witness my sister
trying on all of my clothing and my brother eating all of my snacks. You better
believe I kicked them out of my room so fast. I did not have warm and fuzzy feelings
for them. It wasn’t like I walked into my room and saw them destroying my life
and said, “Oh brother of mine, thank you for eating all of my snacks.” RIGHT? No
one does that, we are human and sometimes we get upset. Therefore, you can see
how we can love another person without being infatuated with them.
Infatuation comes in
waves throughout a relationship. It is not always going to be present. We
cannot base our love on the feelings. Love
is a choice and it involves and action. We choose to do what is best in our
relationships.
This leads me to my
original dilemma. I grew up for a large part of my life thinking that love HAD
to have these feelings, but I was wrong. It has taken me a few years to change
my mind-set on love because our society drills into our brains that love is about
the feelings. I mean we see it on every TV show, in movies, throughout the
books we read, and even in our daily conversations. The scene is always the guy and
the girl in a place that somehow it is perpetually raining. The guy has made some silly
mistake and now he is begging for her love saying, “Tell me Susie, do you
really love me, do you have feelings for me?” Now can you begin to understand how our over
sexualized culture is affecting our thoughts by confusing authentic love for
infatuation? But, honestly, most of those scenes are just referring to
infatuation.
As I have grown up past
7th grade, my thoughts on love and what kind of man I would like to
marry have shifted. I no longer want to be with the man who I have those infatuated
feelings for, who will complete me. I want to be with the man who inspires me,
challenges me to be better, and the man who will truly love me by doing what is
best for me. I read an article recently on the dating problems of our generation
today, which you can check out here.
It struck me in more ways than one but I want to share a few thoughts.
True marriage and relationships are ok if they
have elements of infatuation but the goal would be to date and marry someone who
has a patient openness to loving a flawed human being. In this kind of openness to love, we allow
ourselves the freedom that infatuation-based relationships do not. This is the
freedom to be ourselves, and to not worry if ‘who we naturally are’ will be a
deal breaker. Even though our society
basically pukes infatuation everywhere, that is not what will bring about a
deep lasting marriage. Marriage is going to be tough. It is not about personal
gratification, but about growth and goodness between the two of you.
The author shares a
story about a couple’s choice to get married and it might surprise you.
“They
gazed into one another’s eyes as they told me their love story, and it struck
me how incredibly simple it all was. They had dated for a long time before they
broke up—unsure of each other’s imperfections and afraid to commit to
someone who wasn’t the right match—and then finally got back together again.
But they didn’t get back together because they came to a resolution regarding
one another’s flaws or because the stars were finally aligned. They got back
together and ultimately decided to marry
because they didn’t know anyone else they would rather struggle though marriage
with—and they both wanted marriage.”
Do you love those in your life authentically or are you simply letting infatuation
be the base of your relationships?
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