BC Community
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This Valentine’s Day, we asked members of the Boston College community what healthy love looks like to them. These were their responses.
If you’re reading this,
Love is so much more than a feeling; love surrounds you in nature, family, partnership, and friends.
Love is peaceful and warm. It will find you in times of beauty and pain.
Healthy love holds you up when you feel yourself slipping.
Love reminds us that there is no set time to process or feel better.
It embraces you tightly and reminds you you’re safe.
It promises peace and companionship. It reminds you that you are never alone.
Healthy love is consistent, unconditional, withstanding, and unwavering.
To be loved is to be seen for all that you are.
You are worthy of receiving the same love that you give others.
I hope you get to feel loved in the same way you love everyone else.
Love is all the small things that fill in the gaps… smiles, hugs, acts of kindness.
Trust, empathy, vulnerability, understanding, compromise, and patience are all aspects of healthy love.
Healthy love means showing up for one another and feeling compassion towards each other.
It is holding one another and not letting go when things get hard.
Healthy love provides a calmness like a wave over a rocky beach.
It provides acceptance and invites you to stay true to yourself.
Healthy love is accepting someone as they are. Not wanting to change them.
Healthy love is kind, secure, and simple.
It feels like breathing.
Healthy love is unconditional. It is love because of your flaws rather than despite them.
Healthy love is friends taking care of each other when they are low. It is getting together in comfy places, enjoying each other’s presence.
It is that warm fuzzy feeling.
You are not defined by the love you have had in the past.
Love does not have a perfect timeline.
Relationships should add to your life, not take anything away.
Love doesn’t ask you to compromise who you are.
Love should not feel like a project or a burden.
Healthy love should not hurt.
It is not transactional. It is life-giving.
Healthy love is open communication.
Healthy love is talking about your insecurities and being seen in them.
Healthy love is what feels safe.
And it is not only romantic.
Love is acceptance for who you are, from others and yourself.
Self-love is the foundation of all the other love you will experience.
You are worthy of experiencing boundless love from yourself and others.
If you’re reading this, look for love where you least expect it.
The BC Community
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To follow IfYoureReadingThis at Boston College on Instagram, get in touch with our chapter, and learn about more resources available to Boston College students, visit our chapter’s homepage.
