Jealousy can come across as something that’s desirable in a partner — especially how it is portrayed in certain movies and books. But is it really that romantic? In our culture jealousy is often seen as a normalized behaviour. It’s said that everyone gets jealous because we are human and it just happens. Not always necessarily seen as a good thing, but when things get normalized, those with bad intentions use that to excuse their deplorable behaviour. When a man uses jealousy as an excuse to have a right to act out in a certain way or worse yet, control you, that is not okay. Jealousy is not a valid reason to treat someone else poorly. Especially if they blame the other person for their own behaviour or say something like: I just love you so much that is why I am acting like this. The good news is…
You know that girl who hates Valentine’s Day because she doesn’t have a movie-version of love in her life? Yeah, that was me. Love is tricky. The word covers so many possible definitions. I love my family. I love my socks. I love foxes. As humans, we are prone to imposing conditions on love. However, conditional love can come at too high a cost — it’s exhausting. Is it possible to keep loving someone who always gives “love” based on conditions? If perfection is a requirement, can anyone achieve that? Is it even really love? Valentine’s Day was a day that came around and reminded me that I considered love to be gifts, chocolate and candy. I’m obsessed with cinnamon hearts and February is the only time I can get them. But he hated cinnamon hearts, wouldn’t be near me even if he just smelt them. (Perhaps, that is why…