Sometimes I sit and wonder why did I go through some of the things that I did. I often challenge the notion that true love or happiness will find me someday. I think it is in part due to the traumatic past pain and the destructive wake that was left behind. I think it’s also due to the fact that I’m never the guy that gets appreciated in the moment. I’m not the guy who is loved in the midst or the guy that people take time to enjoy the view when we’re together. I seem to be the guy that shows what giving oneself means, only to have it be taken for granted or underappreciated. Then after time and failed relationships, people come back and reveal just how good I was, or just how much I was truly different.

These revelations, while fine on the surface, really tear away at me. It does so because I do want to be appreciated while engaged in the relationship. I want to be wanted and partner validated by the guy who has my affection. It’s not that I struggle to get people to want to be with me, but they don’t seem to have that desire for me that is shown for them. Better yet, they talk the game but the actions fail miserably. When you experience this enough, it makes you question whether or not you are doing something wrong. Maybe your energy isn’t right. Maybe your giving off a lack of confidence in self or somehow you just aren’t attracting that which you thought you were. It makes you feel a little insecure to feel the emptiness that should be filled by the one that you love.

I admit that I’ve been split and torn a lot lately. Some days I think that I’m in the most satisfying, happy and loving relationship. Then, some days I feel as though I’m really just here as a placeholder. Like I’m the stop gap to whatever is actually about to come next. It feels like I’m really just being used for knowledge and time, not really getting the full energy that I should be receiving. Not getting the full love that should be felt. Far too often I hear words spoken and at first they rang with this breath of freshness and believability, now they are starting to ring hollow and muted. Almost as if said on program and repeated lifelessly as a means to pacify my concerns or deflect from the obvious stress or lack of excitement for this relationship.

It just feels so wrong. It doesn’t feel like it’s a utopian love that is embracing the challenges and the journey head on. It feels like this love is being weighed down, battered already by outside forces that truly have nothing to do with the happiness or success of this relationship, but maybe a little unexpected blowback or unpreparedness for responses has caused things to become more tense or unsettled than imagined. Maybe the hardened exterior and polished tough words aren’t really the story at all. Maybe the reality is that inside the soul and the mind and spirit aren’t all connected on one accord. Maybe this journey is too much and the effects are starting to show. Love shouldn’t feel or be this way.

Love shouldn’t feel forced or weak, not at this stage and to me at any point. If it’s real love it might take a beating, it might become strained, it might wain a little, but that’s when the reserves kick in. That’s when the mind and most importantly, the heart, churns and reminds you of why you chose this person and this journey in the first place. I tend to think that there are many little battles fought within a relationship, amongst both the couple as a whole and the individuals themselves. It is how these battles are fought and decided that determine what direction the relationship goes and its ultimate succession or failure. I think that ignoring the physical aspect of any meaningful relationship is dangerous and is a source of weakness.

I don’t think that you have to be sexually intimate every day or all the time, but I do believe that a healthy and satisfying sex life within a relationship, coupled with a healthy joint spirit and a combined hearty love for one another builds the foundations solid and strong, so that when the inevitable challenges and obstacles arise, you have enough in the tank to withstand them, defeat and overcome them and then take the time to refill the tank. To me, when any of those elements are missing or aren’t firing on all cylinders, you are already at a disadvantage and usually likely to experience a harder time recovering, if you recover because the base isn’t firm. The foundation has cracks and the obstacles only damage that unsettled ground further.

When the love feels wrong, you have to ask yourself why. You have to be willing to look yourself in the face and ask the tough question of is it you and if so what can you do. But, you also have to have the metal strength to realize it may be your partner and you have to approach them with respect and due caution, but you must be just as blunt and direct with them as you would be with yourself. Otherwise you have no true bond or friendship, let alone a healthy relationship. Once those answers are given, you must then seek the solutions that will allow for this to resolved in a manner that both of you want the situation to go. Be it fixing the issues or dissolving the relationship. Either way, one thing you should never do is allow it to fester or boil over. When love doesn’t feel right, you better make it right or walk away.