It’s crazy when you think about it, you know. Love runs our lives and yet, we try and convince ourselves that it is this steady thing that is the same for everyone. But, we couldn’t be more wrong. Nearly 8 billion people on this planet and you truly believe there is only one way to love? Clearly something wrong in that equation there.

For those of you that know me, you’ll know that when I’m in a coffee shop alone, I tend to keep my headphones out because I like to either strike up conversation (in London no less – might as well call me a psychopath!) or just enjoy the hubbub of a life that doesn’t directly concern me. Most recently, I was at a Costa and I overheard this conversation which a struck a chord in me that I didn’t quite anticipate:

love is like water. it can be with you and it’ll fit around the space of you, but if you leave it out for too long, it’ll evaporate. like the flow of water, love is not an unlimited thing. you have to keep refilling it and choosing to step yourself onto it. and the way I see love will be different to how you see love – think of manchester water and london water, it’s crazy different, but it’s still water, and love is still love no matter the form it takes and where it’s found. it’s okay to be scared of love, but don’t let fear stop you from chasing it anyway. 

And it made me think, what happens when we stop choosing love? What happens when we forget to wake up and tell or show our lovers that we still choose them? On every day, in every case, we choose them. In every moment of happiness and sadness, we choose them. Because they are the water that we want to fill ourselves up with – the type of water that we wouldn’t even mind drowning in. It’s crazy when you say it in so many words, but the feeling is very real.

Being in that twenties bracket at the moment means that over the last couple of years, I’ve seen the people I’ve grown up with meet the loves of their lives and go from absolute strangers to two parts of the very same soul. And man, it’s been beautiful. So beautiful. I’ve seen them all light up in ways that I’ve never seen them do before. But, that’s what happens when you finally come home. When you realise that home isn’t a place with four walls and a door, but rather a feeling that often carries a heartbeat of its own. Home is where we can love, laugh, fight, and cry, and still find that it’s a respite for our souls. 

So I guess what I’m saying today is this: I hope you have or find a love that feels like coming home. I hope that they are your resting place on the longest of days, and the biggest supporter to your craziest of plans. I hope that on every day, and in every case, you fall in love just that little bit more. But most of all, I hope that you never lose hope because

When you seek Love with all your Heart, you shall find its echoes in the universe.

Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi.