Why do we love hearing, “I love you” so much? Maybe its the promise of holding a place in someone’s heart, or the awakening knowledge of a new significance you hold in someone’s life.
Often it’s the phrase expressed before a relationship takes it’s next step, the expression that one is loved for all their silly quirks, for their looks, for their heart, or for who they are (the good, the bad, and the imperfection).
People thrive off that idea, that they are enough, that they are someone’s everything.
Why is love complicated?
So why then is love such a complicated thing? Why do people who say they love each other split? Why do marriages end? Why are love songs sometimes sad? Why do broken hearts exist? How can a person who was once your everything, become a stranger, or even an enemy?
Is it because love is ultimately bad? Or even a fleeting feeling, that only some people are lucky enough to experience forever?
I believe in love. I believe in its strength and significance in relationships. But I have also learned that love isn’t always enough. You need more than love to make a relationship work. Love starts many great romances, but love alone won’t make a relationship last forever.
Much as “I love You” is an important phrase, there are other three-word phrases which could be better than it.
See the responses a section of netizens had :
Here’s your food!
Lecture is cancelled!
Lock door first!
You got paid!
“I forgive you.”
I forgive you for all the things have done, or will do, that may hurt me. I forgive the way you may lash out when you are hungry, I forgive the things you may say when you’re tired after a long day. I forgive the times you didn’t even know you upset me.
2. “I’ll sacrifice for you.”
I’ll sacrifice my time for you. I’ll be selfless for you. I’ll stay up late with you as you learn to care for our new baby, even though I have work in the morning. I’ll hold you when you’re sick.
When you are weak, I will be your strength. I’ll be there for you at 3am as readily as I would at 7pm. My sacrifice is not dependent on your state of being, but rather it is there because you exist and you are someone worth sacrificing for.
3. “I respect you.”
I respect you for who you are, and not for what I feel you deserve. I respect you because you deserve my respect, not because you earned it. I’ll respect your opinions and consider your feelings.
I’ll treat you like a person with your own thoughts, hopes, dreams and desires. And those thoughts, hopes, dreams, and desires will matter to me the way they matter to you.
Tell us what you think in the comments!