By Alex Mejos
Our culture is deeply engrossed in the business of trying to find love. When 10 p.m. hits, many of us become fallen soldiers to our “sadboi” Spotify playlists, as if trying to lull that “yearning” within.
But what I’ve found is that love has a way of finding all of us.
Like many, there’s no boyfriend appearing anywhere in my nearest horizon. And yet, I’m reminded that perhaps love might never arrive for me in that way—or at least not right now.
Experience shows that I’ve always found love, or it has always found me—even when I was never looking. But it was never in the shape of a man. It was in how someone I had a bad impression of became my best friend. Or in the way my college dormmates made a new, frightening place feel like home. Or in work relationships that started off rocky, but turned out to be precious.
Love keeps appearing in people and places that feel mundane. Even in seasons when it felt like I lacked it. And perhaps the same is true for you.
So often, we think we’ve got to be the most impressive and attractive in the room to get love’s attention. We’re taught to run after it and “claim what’s ours”.
But the truth is, what’s ours will never demand a hot pursuit. Pursuit won’t be necessary when all the love that’s ours is already in pursuit of us. Sometimes, it’ll be freely given, without us needing to look and search.
Because as with many things in life, love finds us when we’re ready. Perhaps not always the romantic type, but sometimes in how we found love in the shape of a friend, an auntie, or an Olivia Dean song.
So this love month, stop wondering when or whether love will ever come. Look within you and around you—you’ve already found it.
