When Love Starts To Feel Like Survival

I used to think love was supposed to be difficult. Not just sometimes. I mean all the time. I thought it was normal to feel tired and overwhelmed and still call it love. I thought love meant trying harder, proving myself, staying even when I felt like I was disappearing a little at a time.

What I didn’t realize back then is that I had confused love with survival.

There is a type of relationship that is full of highs that feel like the most beautiful thing in the world. The kind of high that makes you believe everything is worth it. The apologies are sweet. The promises sound sincere. You start imagining a future because the good moments are that strong. They feel real.

But the lows feel like your soul is being