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Love takes effort, be it a fling, a short romance, a situationship, or a long-term relationship.

It involves risk and heartbreak. It could cause us pain or make us experience rejection. Even if/when it works, we double the effort to make it worthwhile and long-lasting.

I lost count of how many times I said “that’s it” and “no more relationships.” Especially after painful, unanticipated breakups, I would build a wall to shield myself from future disappointments. What’s the point of love if it hurts? Why spend time, effort, and energy trying to keep what might not even stay?

But the walls we build around our hearts are always shattered—by someone else. By someone who makes us forget why we built them in the first place. The truth is we can never escape love. We can’t escape chemistry and unmatched connection. We can’t run away from what makes our soul vibrant, alive, and purposeful.

We can’t run away from love.

Love is costly, but it’s also valued. It’s always worth the effort. I have accepted the idea that love can never be perfect or incessantly joyful. To love is to accept the good and the bad. Love doesn’t care about what I or you want. It drags you into it naked, unprepared, unhinged.

This is why I always love reading what Kahlil Gibran has to say about love. He simplifies it. He glorifies it. He indirectly tells us that it’s worth our time, even when it hurts.

May these nine quotes make you believe in the irreplaceable power of love:

“Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love.”

“Love, like a running brook, is disregarded, taken for granted; but when the brook freezes over, then people begin to remember how it was when it ran, and they want it to run again.”

“Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of the seasons.”

“For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.”

“And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”

“When love becomes vast love becomes wordless.”

“And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.”

“Love possesses not nor will it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.”

“When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.”

~