Learning to Love...

...that's what I'm doing these days. I decided in the years after undergrad that I didn't want to get married. Marriage just seemed too hard for most of the couples around me (thus likely too hard for me too). After watching unhappy people simply enduring marriage, I made a decision to never live in a miserable marriage for the sake of maintaining a certain image among my circle of family and friends. For me, this decision meant that I'd never get married...but time and circumstances change even our most passionate life decisions sometimes. This seems to be the case for me.

I met a wonderful guy about 6 months ago and I couldn't be happier. Unfortunately, I struggle to share my happiness with him at times...not because he's not special, rather because I made a decision to avoid all levels of emotional intimacy and I made a decision to not love. Obviously, these behaviors are not conducive to a successful relationship, so I'm back to learning to love. A friend sent me an article (from cnn.com) recently that helped me better understand on some level why it's so difficult for individuals to express their emotions when i comes to love. The article, Throw yourself into intimacy and take the leap into love!, talks about the reasons why falling in love is at times a difficult thing to accept. It also talks about ways to overcome this fear of falling in love. So...this article has pushed me to take the leap into love...I'm scared, but I can't imagine my life without S. That means learning to open up and love again for me. Have you assessed your ability to love lately??

Check out the article if you get a chance: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/10/12/o.overs.leap/index.html?iref=newssearch