suitcases and red flag label-makers

♥️

i know a lot of people have questions about love, whether it's a romantic relationship they're in, a relationship they want to be in, their role as a parent or the role of their parents, their family, their friends, etc.
 and i know a lot of people post and repost quotes and memes and dialogue or complain about the seemingly unattainable unconditional love, and some want the world to believe they have it but behind the smiling faces, social media posts, and canned answers about how they're living their best lives, they're actually missing out on it ... and each other.

because how can we expect or hope for someone to love us unconditionally if we show up with a suitcase full of our own conditions?

how can we even say we want or need someone who will put up with us and all our 💩 if we are unwilling to deal with anyone else's 💩?

how can we say we want, hope, or pray for someone who will never leave us and always choose us, if we have dealbreakers, red flag label-makers, or are always ready to unchoose them when their struggles manifest as mistakes that hurt us?

how can we say we want a relationship with an honest man or woman when we hide things from them and refuse to trust them with our truths?

and how can we ask for loyalty when we have one foot out the door that they don't even know is open, or our fingers are doing the walking in and out of other people's texts, DMs, or emails, and spreading our energy all over the place so no one person gets our whole heart ...

may we all remember that in order to be loved the way we truly want to be loved, we must be brave enough to love the way they need to be loved as well as the way we want to be loved.
i promise, it will change your life. and your love.