To Love and Be Loved.

the soft life is cute until your heart’s involved.

There’s something so vulnerable about wanting love. And I don’t mean a cute situationship with passive-aggressive playlists and ghosting threats. I mean real, embarrassing, soul-wrenching love. The kind where you’re seen—like really seen. The kind where someone holds your flaws gently like a ceramic mug from an overpriced art market. The kind where you don’t have to shrink yourself or decode texts like you’re in the FBI.

And also—why is it so scary to admit that you want love?

Somewhere along the way, wanting love became cringe. Like, we all joke about being emotionally unavailable while secretly sending good morning texts to someone who barely likes our Instagram posts. We perform chillness like it’s a job. No one wants to be the one who “catches feelings first.” But why is vulnerability the enemy when it’s literally the bridge?

I think about this a lot. How love (romantic or platonic) requires this surrender. You have to let people see you. You have to let yourself hope. And that’s terrifying. Especially when you’ve been taught that needing anything makes you weak.

To love is a risk.

To be loved is a mirror.

Both are raw. Both are uncomfortable. But both are necessary. We can’t keep asking for connection while building walls around our softest parts.

So maybe this is your reminder (and mine) that love isn’t a transaction or a checklist. It’s not earned by being more low-maintenance, or cool, or mysterious. It’s allowed. It’s chosen. It’s built. Love comes when we’re brave enough to say: “This is who I am. Will you meet me here?”

If you’re reading this and you feel a little cracked open right now, same.

It’s not embarrassing to want love.

It’s not weak to ask for it.

It’s not delusional to believe you deserve it.

That’s actually the strongest thing you can do.

So go love boldly. Let yourself be loved without apologizing for it.

And if it gets messy (because it will), know that you’re not alone.

We’re all just soft humans with WiFi and abandonment issues trying our best.

-P.S. Send this to someone you love. Or want to love. Or wish you could.