At the end of the day, I think, being in love is about being vulnerable. It’s about being able to say “Hey, this is me, and these are my issues and my baggage. I will work on them but I can’t promise they will disappear. But I still want to try to make you happy and add value to your life. Are you cool with that?”.
I find myself thinking about vulnerability these days. What is it about it that is so scary? Why can’t we just show what we truly are to people? At the end of the day, if one were to think pragmatically, being 100% true to anyone is the only choice that makes sense — you filter out people that don’t like you, and you get to bring in those who enjoy your company. And you do it fast. So why would it be different with love?
And yet, not hiding anything is scary. We don’t like getting rejected, even if it’s a stranger, and we really, really, don’t like getting rejected in love. It just hurts too much, right? And we feel like our own baggage is just too much, and that nobody can, or ever, truly love us because our issues make us a horrible person. Which is almost never true. There are people I don’t like, which is cool, we’re maybe too different; but I have almost never found anyone anyone that I think is horrible.
Something else that love is about, I’d say, is being generous. It’s being generous to the world, being willing to add value to it — and by consequence, to someone that you deem special enough to spend a lot of time together, for months, years, or maybe a bit longer, too. And as with being vulnerable this is super hard, because some people will not appreciate you, and your actions, regardless of their noble intentions. But that’s okay. It’s about being generous because you truly believe it’s the correct thing to do, not because you’re seeking external validation.
I recognise this is an odd review, but it’s fine. This is what I got from the book, and in general in my past love relationships. Everything rings true to me. It’s a wonderful little book.