Taking a holiday from LOVE

Lately I've been asking friends if they felt the year went by like lightning. You know, one flash and it's gone. I deem using the lifespan (I don't know if that's a proper term but stay with me here) of lightning to equate time passing this year to be pretty apt. Simply because people and friends I've had this conversation with unanimously agree that it has indeed been a hell of a stormy one. I guess the upside is that 2007 is soon to be gone and done away with.

Seems like there are the bulk of us going through 'stuff' in our lives at the moment. Or, for some may have passed, but are still reeling and nursing the repercussions of bad judgment calls or simply going through their relationships unconscious.

To put it really explicitly, most are having trouble with the almighty four letter word. 'LOVE'. 2007 is a bad year for love. Or the lack thereof.

Sometimes I feel that having a ton on your plate work wise is a good thing. It keeps you sane because you don't give your mind the opportunity to wander. Alot of the time I believe, the problems we create in our lives are all in our head, as in, they start in our minds. There's the old saying "An idle mind is a devil's workshop". How true! Plant a bad thought in your mind and it will grow to epic proportions so huge it will devour you from the inside out. Think about something too much and it could manifest into something more tangible, like arguments and affairs for example. You create hell out of nothing at all. Sounds like it'd make a cool song title. LOL.

Am starting to agree that love's got a life force of it's own so I am gonna give it the capital L it deserves. Love. There. :D

Moving on...YET frustratingly, having too much to deal with outside of Love (like work and so on) can be detrimental as well. Apart from work, I guess most of us will agree that we all need some sort of time away from Love even when we're IN Love. Like unwinding with friends after a long day at work, or just simply wanting some time alone to get totally lost in a good book. And so we do all this while IN Love, only to realise it's not there when we want to get back to it. Personally, in relationships of my own, I believe...That when you're in Love (and by this I mean a relationship la) with someone, you can take your time to do the things you want to do, take your time to change the things you want to change, take time out for yourself, for work, but don't blame the world if it or that someone you love passes you by. Life goes on even if you'd like to stop for a breather. Like it or not.

I think it all boils down to our expectations of Love and it's delivery. What is Love? How do we make Love work while we're in it? Me thinks lately, people have been heavily butchering Love. Reason? Self preservation. That's the good word. The bad word? Selfishness. Alas I am digressing...That would be an entirely different aspect of this topic for another day.

So I reckon. Let's say that if two people don't really 'love' each other, but have similar notions, expectations about Love, have generally uncomplicated personas, it is possible to have a harmonious (read mundane) solid relationship together. On the other hand, we have two people who are deeply in love with all that fire and pizazz BUT are total emotional retards when it comes to displaying their love for each other, then both could possibly be missing out on what could possibly be a wonderful soulful relationship.

Oh why does it make us choose?! The woes of us people in love with the idea of Love. We cannot live with nor without it. But I guess that's what makes love so irresistible, so beautiful. Because how and why it works it's magic around us is still a mystery to all who experience it.

Going back to the title of today's entry. I recently rented dvds from across. And as you might have guessed, it being the festive season of green red and white and the year of troubled love, I borrowed 'The Holiday'. Two women with man troubles take a holiday by switching homes. It's a cute fluffy piece of romantic comedy of love lost and found in the most unexpected of places and time. I thought it to be a really adorable and enjoyable watch. We all need a little bit of hope don't we!

What struck me most were the lines in the movie. Here are some that moved me to either tears, laughter or simply go "awwwww":

"Because you're hoping you're wrong. And every time she does something that tells you she's no good, you ignore it. And every time she comes through and surprises you, she wins you over, and you lose that argument with yourself, that she's not for you."

"Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend."

"I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love."

"I understand feeling as small and as insignificant as humanly possible. And how it can actually ache in places you didn't know you had inside you. And it doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends... you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. And how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new. And you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little pieces of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade."

"Say a man and a woman both need something to sleep in and both go to the same men's pajama department. The man says to the salesman, "I just need bottoms," and the woman says, "I just need a top." They look at each other and that's the 'meet cute.' "

And the one where love in my life is most parallel to at the moment:

"I need some peace and quiet... or whatever it is people go away for."

I wonder if my choice of movies lately are a reflection of the state my heart and mind are currently in. LOL. :D Right then, it's been an awfully long post today and it's getting late. Best be off to bed. Nighty night and sweetest dreams. Sleep tight.