Love Vibes

“Love liberates. It doesn’t bind.” — Maya Angelou

Have you ever been struck by Cupid’s metaphorical arrow?

In Greek mythology, Cupid’s counterpart is Eros, the god of passionate desire, attraction, and romantic love. He isn’t known for quiet, steady affection. Eros represents the kind of love that arrives unexpectedly, ignites like wildfire, and convinces us we’ve found the missing piece of ourselves. It’s intoxicating. Electric. The kind of love Hollywood has built entire industries around.

When we’re young, we often mistake that feeling for the whole story.

But the Greeks recognized that love isn’t just one thing. Alongside eros (passionate love), there is philia (deep friendship), storge (familial love), pragma (enduring, committed love that grows over time), and agape (selfless, unconditional love). As we get older, many of us begin to appreciate these quieter forms of love in ways we never could when fireworks were all we were looking for.

Looks fade. Health changes. Life happens.

The person we once laughed with until sunrise isn’t the exact same person we grow old beside. Love, if it’s going to last, has to evolve beyond chemistry.

Sometimes, the most loving thing you can do for another person is recognize that you cannot meet their needs and release them to find someone who can.

If you’ve never had to do that, consider yourself fortunate.

There are countless reasons why two people can love each other deeply and still not be able to make it work in the 3D reality of everyday life. Timing, circumstance, history, values, distance…. The list is exhaustive.

If there is one thing at 40 that I know now that I didn’t at 20, it is this:

Love doesn’t bind.

It doesn’t claim ownership.

Real love liberates.

It says, I love you enough to let you go.

One of the hardest lessons of my life came a decade ago, when someone I loved chose a different path. They believed another person was a better fit. They viewed that person as someone who could offer them more, help build the future they envisioned, and meet needs I couldn’t.

At the time, it felt like rejection.

I could literally feel my heart breaking as I read their last message to me… “I hope you understand.”

I questioned my worth. I wondered what was wrong with me that my feelings weren’t returned in the way I had hoped.

But even through the heartbreak, I let them go.

I never interfered in their relationship. I didn’t call. I didn’t message. I didn’t try to convince them to change their mind.

I liberated them because I genuinely wanted them to be happy, even if that happiness didn’t include me.

Years later, life came full circle.

Now I understand something I couldn’t see back then.

They had real feelings for me.

They had felt the connection.

They simply recognized that we weren’t the right choice for each other. I wasn’t the right partner for the life they were trying to create for themselves. There were many variables that made choosing a different path the healthier decision for them at the time.

And now…

I understand.

All the resentment I once carried toward them has dissolved.

All the self-loathing I once directed toward myself has been transformed into compassion.

It was never that I wasn’t enough.

I just wasn’t what was right.

There’s a profound difference.

Sometimes love isn’t measured by who stays.

Sometimes it’s measured by who is willing to let go with grace.

I hope you understand.

Always,

LC