What is ...

Love? I've asked myself this question many times in my life, and I've realised that, like most abstract concepts, there is no single answer to it.

I was raised with the "Love is patient, love is kind" ideal, and watched it lived out in the lives of my parents. I have seen wonderful things done in the name of love, and I have seen love grow in extremely difficult circumstances. I have loved and been loved, and been in love. It can be easy to be loving with people I know, and who love me in return.

It is another story when someone has 'that' personality. You know what I mean. The person who just drives you up the wall screaming with frustration. There are some personality types I can't understand, and who can push my 'lose it' button by breathing.

What I have come to realise, is that I am one of those people, and I imagine you are too. Some personality types just have more trouble communicating with one another than others. I don't 'get' them, and they don't 'get' me, and the result can be absolute frustration and hurt. I probably drive those same people as crazy as they drive me.

So this year I know some people will drive me insane. I will feel they are the most irrational, idiotic, self-centred, and annoying people on the planet, but I need to remember that I am most likely the same to them. I may find someone who makes me batshit crazy, but they still deserve respect, dignity, and compassion shown to them, whether they do the same for me or not. That, I think, is a new personal goal of mine.

So, I'll love my friends and family, but will try not to forget the ass who talks too much or too loud at every event, the stupid shit who has the really, really annoying habit(s), the know-it-all who tries to be better than everyone else, all the time, or the fucker who ate the last piece of cheesecake being saved for me.

I'm not saying I should pretend to be or feel something I'm not or don't, but I'll try to take a deep breath, count to ten, and avoid being the second asshole in the equation.

Happy New Year, Everyone.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails.