Believe It Or Not

Today I was talking with a fellow artist and he asked me, "Do you still believe in true love? Do you believe in those fairy tales?" I sat back and thought about this question. All of our lives we are told to fall in love, get married, live long, prosper, and then die having parted the world in the unity of a fulfilling marriage. Till death do us part, right? Having been through the pain of heartbreak plenty of times, I said, "I believe in true love because I have been through true pain, and one cannot exist without the other." We all go through an emotional battle within our own lives, people kill for love, die for love, fight for love. The need to be loved overpowers all obstacles. It is the best and the worst of emotions. Do I believe there is someone out there for everyone? Yes! I believe there are multiple people out there for us, it is not in finding them that is the problem, the problem lies within finding ourselves.

Two years ago I left a relationship in the middle of the night. I left because there was no more love, had I loved? Yes, but that love was gone and we were destroying each other over it. I was broken after that relationship, I thought I could never love again, never be loved again. That feeling of such pain lingered until I found myself within the expression of my emotions through my photography. After finding myself I found the guy I am currently with. Being stood up in California by one potential partner I randomly meet another. He changed what I thought was true about being loved by someone else. Throughout the months of knowing this man, I realized that I can be loved again, and I could love. I could finally be free with someone who was just like me in so many ways. A gypsy, wondering this earth, looking for inner meaning, self peace, and the truth of this universe. I knew it was possible for my heart to beat once more for not just me, but someone else. That was a gift I was given in that moment of time, the gift of knowing I can be loved, and what a wonderful gift it is to find. 

Now I don't know if I will be with this guy till the end of time, because well, time is mysterious and anything at any given moment can be taken from us. However, what I learned from this is that we all deal with this feeling at some point. We ask ourselves, "What is wrong with me, why can't I find anyone to love me?" The answer is so utterly simple that we don't accept it. See, we are all capable of love and being loved. Nothing is wrong with any of you, the problem is you first have got to accept that you can and deserve to be loved, you first must find it within yourself. We are all beautiful people caught up in a dark cruel world. The only way out is to accept the beauty of knowing love is out there, and accept that it will break you at times, but it is worth so much more knowing that each break brings beauty, only if you choose to see the beauty in it. 

So do I believe in true love? Well, I believe I have suffered great pain because of great love, and if I can love before I can love again and there is nothing truer than that, believe it or not. 

Photography provided by Malissa Ahlin Photography of Southern Colorado 

http://malissaahlin.com/