Your Love Box

With Valentine’s Day behind us, some relationships have gone back to normal. No roses at work, no chocolate on your pillow, and definitely no phone call during lunch time to tell you that you are loved. My father has never been a fan of the fourteenth day of February, simply because he believes that love should be celebrated and expressed on a daily basis. The day of love, as many call it, has become a marketing strategy. An advertising gimmick aimed at getting customers through the door. And the crazy part of it is that we are quick to open up our wallets. We have reduced love right down to material things.

But today’s blog is not about Valentine’s Day, it’s about the value that we place on certain things, thinking that it connotes to love or the possibility thereof. We’ve all had a list, or had a friend that had a list of things that their partner just had to have. If somebody came along and they missed just one box on that list, then they were kicked to the curb. But I have come to realise that sometimes the things that we think we need, are actually the things that we want. And the things that we don’t want are the things that we need.

Have you ever met someone who you would never in a million years think you would get along with, but has turned now out to be one of your closest friends? That is an example of how our love boxes can deprive us of experiencing real relationships. What’s a love box? I’m glad that you asked that question. A love box is an imaginary box that we all carry around with us. In this box you will find your definition of love. You will find ways in which you think love is best expressed, and you will also find the ‘type’ of people that know how to love you best….or rather, the people that you think know how to love you best.



The thing about boxes is that they are rigid, they keep things in, and their walls are not permeable. Which means that everything remains unchanged, your beliefs about what love is, what it looks like, how it treats you….all of those things remain unchanged. But the journey of love, whether learning to love yourself, your friends or your partner, will teach you that you can’t bring it down to tangible things. It’s more than that, it’s more than our boxes. Even things you never thought you needed will now have an opportunity to impact your life. So, what is in your love box? Anything you need to let go of? 
I am an Occupational Therapist by profession, but I have many roles that bring meaning to my life. In short, I love people, books and love.

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