<\/p>\n
Falling in love isn\u2019t a choice; it\u2019s an irrational chain of events that simply cannot be stopped. It can happen slowly, over time, or quickly in a matter of moments. <\/p>\n One glance. One touch. One eight-hour phone conversation. And it\u2019s all over.<\/p>\n Falling in love is the easy part \u2014\u00a0the excitement that comes with learning what makes another person tick, and the equally terrifying counterpart of\u00a0exposing your soul to somebody else.<\/p>\n \u00a0It\u2019s interesting and unique. It never happens the same way twice.<\/p>\n But staying in love is a choice. An active decision-making process that requires work and dedication.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to fall in love\u00a0with somebody for all their good qualities: they\u2019re smart, sexy, funny. These things are easy to love.\u00a0<\/p>\n Staying in love\u00a0is the hard part. The rush dissipates and there are just two flawed people trying to come up with new ways to fall in love.<\/p>\n You start running out of things to talk about, you catch yourself telling the same stories over and over again. And the\u00a0blinders you once had to each other\u2019s imperfections\u00a0slowly disappear.<\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019s little things \u2014\u00a0like he always seems to forget important days or isn\u2019t as thoughtful as he used to be when he was trying to win your affection. Maybe it\u2019s big things \u2014\u00a0like he screams stuff when he\u2019s mad that he can\u2019t take back.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, nobody\u2019s perfect and everybody comes with their own unique set of flaws and features.<\/p>\n People who stay in love don\u2019t do so because they have no choice; every single day is a choice.<\/p>\n Over the course of time, you begin to realize that the person you fell in love with is imperfect, and the true act of love, the true definition of loving someone, is loving those imperfections as wholly and completely as you love the good.<\/p>\n Love is saying I see you, all of you, exactly how you are \u2014\u00a0the good, the bad, the things that you don\u2019t want anybody else to see.\u00a0I see what you\u2019re ashamed of,\u00a0what you wish you could hide.<\/p>\n I see these things, and I still love you. I still choose you.<\/p>\n And you hope and pray and plead for the other person to do the same.<\/p>\n To take your set of shortcomings\u00a0and love them in the same way.<\/p>\n To see you at your worst, as a mess on the floor, and they decide to lay down with you and help you through it.<\/p>\n To stick around when sh*t gets unimaginably\u00a0hard and tough and complicated.<\/p>\n To choose you back.<\/p>\n