When I think of falling in love for the first time, I think about the stereotypical moments that happens in movies where the male and female protagonist bump into each other, their eyes meet, they both probably dropped something and their hands brush together at the same time or they have seemingly fallen on top of each other and then they’re are apologizing profoundly to each other and awkwardly laugh and then they stand up to go their separate ways before glancing behind them smiling at each other and then later on fate brings them together again, they slowly fall for each other, throw a misunderstanding in the mix to spice things up, then have an elaborate and over-the-top confession that leads into “I love you’s” and a kissing scene and then they’re living happily ever after…. Unless it’s a Nicholas Sparks film, then one of them will probably have cancer or some other tragic disease or get into an accident and then inevitably die at the end leaving you crushed and betrayed while you dry your teary eyes on your way out of the cinema.
Let me tell you.. Falling in love is nothing like that, whilst I am 18 years old and still exploring the idea of love and what it actually is and means. Falling in love doesn’t mean it has to be romantic, it can be a feeling where you just find pleasure by being with that person. I have been in love… with many things, boys, girls, books, traveling, writing, the list goes on.
See, falling in love doesn’t mean you have to fall in love with an actual person, it could mean you falling in love with a job or an hobby you wish to pursue and this is going to be the type of falling in love I’m going to be talking about. You could fall in love with doing or making a lot of things whether it’s music, writing, making YouTube story-time videos, I don’t know what you’re into, but whatever floats your boat and that you enjoy creating and putting out in the world. For me, it’s creating forms of art, such as writing, making films, music, etc.
The “falling” part can be the anxieties you have whilst falling in love with this thing and you’re faced with so many questions that it makes you not want to do the things you fell in love with in the first place. Or you could get obsessed with it, which sometimes in certain situations is not good.
Shawn Mendes said something similar whilst explaining what the meaning of his song “Mercy” was about:
“When you find yourself so passionate about something, you find it kind of consuming you to the point where it drives you a little crazy and sometimes you’re freaking out and you’re like “why do I even do this?” Sometimes all you want to do is beg for mercy but you can’t”
I like to compare falling in love with something like this in the way it is shown in the cliche romantic movies, Where you find something that you like and then overtime you come to love but then all of a sudden, this thing gets too much for you, it overtakes and consumes you and you think it’s toxic so you have to take a break from it but then you realize that you can’t forget about it because this thing is apart of you now and you can’t give up on it so you stand up for it even though people believe that you and this thing will never make you satisfied in life but the truth is. It will.
For years, I’ve been told that the writing/journalism industry is a rough business to get into and it’s all based on luck if you get a job in the business, but I’m already making it, aren’t I? I mean, I’m already writing for a magazine so that has to be one step in the right direction, however even though I stand up for what I am passionate about, I still have small worries inside of me that I keep to myself and I ask myself “is this worth it? Like maybe I should do something else that’s simpler to achieve” but then I realize while how it might be easier pursuing that other simple thing, I will never be truly happy like the other thing made me.
The moral of the story is chase after the thing that you are truly in love with. Another way you can fall in love with something is when someone tells you to chase after an objective, where you can be introduced and then overtime you fall in love. Remember, you know when you have fallen in love when you can’t stop thinking about or can’t stop doing it (and no I didn’t mean it in that way)
Don’t be afraid to fall in love with something, yes, there will be struggles along the way and I can’t promise you will have a smooth sailing relationship with the things you love but everything will fall in place and you’ll love doing the thing you do and being with this thing you love.
