This essay critiques societal pressure on romantic relationships, advocating for broader definitions of love and prioritizing non-romantic connections for personal fulfilment.
This is such a wonderful piece and outlook about love in general. Our society do often emphasises our romantic relationships, rarely on platonic ones. Based on my experience, the more I spend time with my family and friends, the more I truly understand what love should feel like. It's not just about the magical story of how you met or why they are the one, but the foundation of it. Platonic relationships (and love) has taught me about trust, communication, honesty, joy, patience, and support. And learning and finding those feelings is such an underrated experience, and I honestly cannot wait for those lessons to be shown when I am ready for a romantic relationship.
Beautifully said! You’re exactly right that society’s focus on romantic relationships as the ultimate form of status and success is not helpful nor healthy for most people. Thank you for highlighting this important issue with your thoughtful writing. I do believe that fairy tale romance is a myth; in fact, just like friendships or family, real honest romantic love is messy, complicated, weird, and often not storybook perfection. I think that this romanticized ideal of the happily ever after is often fairly toxic to young people; the myth of romance seems to merely breed further insecurity, loneliness, and fear of not fitting into the cookie cutter mold set by rigid societal standards. Yet many forms of media seem to promote this idealized, tortured longing, especially for women. I guess maybe that’s what sells? Advertising and marketing try to capitalize on an unhealthy and unobtainable ideal of true love in order to encourage this insatiable longing among girls, with the goal of making people buy needless junk to fill the gaping void. Yet real love isn’t about tortured obsession or fiery infatuation, honest love is complicated, difficult, strange, and it’s about loving a person even with their flaws and faults. As much as media tries to tell us otherwise, we humans are not meant to be perfect. I think that you’re right about the importance of other human connections. Family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, all of these relationships are just as vital to the survival of the human heart. Thank you for writing about this topic with such insight and honesty!
Thank you Jessica! You're absolutely right about the way advertising and marketing capitalise on this. You've inspired me to write a part 2 for this topic. Thank you again!
This is such a wonderful piece and outlook about love in general. Our society do often emphasises our romantic relationships, rarely on platonic ones. Based on my experience, the more I spend time with my family and friends, the more I truly understand what love should feel like. It's not just about the magical story of how you met or why they are the one, but the foundation of it. Platonic relationships (and love) has taught me about trust, communication, honesty, joy, patience, and support. And learning and finding those feelings is such an underrated experience, and I honestly cannot wait for those lessons to be shown when I am ready for a romantic relationship.
I'm so glad this resonated with you. Thank you so much for reading!
Beautifully said! You’re exactly right that society’s focus on romantic relationships as the ultimate form of status and success is not helpful nor healthy for most people. Thank you for highlighting this important issue with your thoughtful writing. I do believe that fairy tale romance is a myth; in fact, just like friendships or family, real honest romantic love is messy, complicated, weird, and often not storybook perfection. I think that this romanticized ideal of the happily ever after is often fairly toxic to young people; the myth of romance seems to merely breed further insecurity, loneliness, and fear of not fitting into the cookie cutter mold set by rigid societal standards. Yet many forms of media seem to promote this idealized, tortured longing, especially for women. I guess maybe that’s what sells? Advertising and marketing try to capitalize on an unhealthy and unobtainable ideal of true love in order to encourage this insatiable longing among girls, with the goal of making people buy needless junk to fill the gaping void. Yet real love isn’t about tortured obsession or fiery infatuation, honest love is complicated, difficult, strange, and it’s about loving a person even with their flaws and faults. As much as media tries to tell us otherwise, we humans are not meant to be perfect. I think that you’re right about the importance of other human connections. Family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, all of these relationships are just as vital to the survival of the human heart. Thank you for writing about this topic with such insight and honesty!
Thank you Jessica! You're absolutely right about the way advertising and marketing capitalise on this. You've inspired me to write a part 2 for this topic. Thank you again!