Theories of Love.

A conversation between my Doctor and I:
Him: “You need to allow yourself to relax and be loved. Do you understand what I mean?”
Me: “I cannot relax. I am losing my memory, my vision and ability to think, and…”
Him: “Be loved. Relax and be loved. Do you understand that?”
Me: “Sex?”
Him: “I meant more of a massage by…”
Me: “Oh, I’m seeing my Acupuncturist this week and he can massage out my…”
Him: “No, stop. More intimate than that. To feel another’s touch, to walk and hold hands, to feel the person you used to be”
Me: “How, when all I know is the person that I am now?”
Him: “Look up the 5 Love Languages and take the test. Find out where you fit and then allow yourself to be loved. Illness has consumed your ability to feel, so try and not think about the illness. Think about your feelings”
Me: “Is this some positive-thinking-and-you’ll-feel-better-crap?”
Him: “No, trust me”

As noted in one of my previous posts, my Doctor requested that I take a trip away and allow myself to “relax entirely and be loved”. He was ripping his hair out too; hence the ‘break’ that we desperately needed to come back cleansed and start over.
My Doctor and I have become very well acquainted. He knows that I have been struggling financially, am ripping my hair out over my new neurological symptoms and have just had my heart absolutely pulverised by the Polish Meat Beater.

I have felt heartache before, but nothing like this.
I am naturally a carer, a lover, a giver. I gave all of myself to this creature who I thought was perfect, and he stripped me down and made me feel worthless. He was my best friend, and we had history, a spark like no other. It was a build up over many years, and when we were finally each other’s I had never felt happiness or contentment quite like it. We spoke every day. We shared secrets. We knew each other better than anyone else.

Everything was perfect, until it wasn’t.

I was called a Peasant, and he brought my family into the picture also referring to them as ‘lower grade’ after they welcomed him with open arms. I was suddenly unintelligent, that I would amount to nothing in my life and that nobody could ever love me with this illness. Coming from the guy who I thought was my true love, I was beyond devastated – anyway, lets get back to the story.

I left my Doctor’s room mostly confused, and slightly irritated.
I had loved perfectly fine before, but the illness had not helped.
It’s incredibly hard to have a relationship with someone and be sick.
I grew to realise that a partner will always feel the need to tread carefully around you in case you snap, which you will.

It’s a vicious cycle of anger, love, anger, love, and it’s not at all your fault;
Hold me, no don’t touch me.
Kiss me, no I feel nauseous.
WHY DIDN’T YOU HUG ME?! No I’m in so much pain.
I want pasta, no I want salad, no wait I want nothing.
I don’t know how to feel, why don’t you love me?

After my episode with the Polish Meat Beater, I felt defeated.
I didn’t want to hold hands with anyone, or ‘feel another person’s touch’. I was quite happy to never have sex again and isolate myself from the male gene entirely, and then it hit me like a tonne of bricks. I had built up a pretty high wall to protect myself, and all of the energy I spent on loving others… loving him, was now spent on my illness. I was on a constant speed to ‘get better’; take this medication, take another one, eat and eat until hopefully my stomach will just give in and let me have peace, go to this appointment, book that appointment, who else do I see?
My day was solely made up of illness crap.

So, I went home and researched the Five Love Languages that my Doctor spoke of.
I usually don’t buy into stuff like this, but what I found was incredibly intriguing and it actually… made sense.

A man by the name of Gary Chapman wrote a book in 1995 suggesting that Love was made up of five parts, in which he called the Five Love Languages; gifts, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service and intimacy.
We each have one primary and secondary preferred Language in which we preach. He makes it known that these Five Love Languages exhaust each human, and that we cannot be truly at peace with our partner or ourselves unless they match or meet our primary Love Language.
For example, one male partner may believe that gifts are of importance to show love, yet the female believes that intimacy is more of an importance. An automatic roadblock has been created, because whilst the male partner is waiting for gifts to be received, the female partner is waiting for intimacy. Okay, so the male partner buys the female woman a gift – the female would prefer intimacy. In order to love wholeheartedly, an ideal partner would have to understand how you need to be loved.

In order to truly discover your Love Languages, one must “observe the way that they express Love to others, and analyse what they complain about and request the most”.

We use all Five Love Languages in our every day lives, some more than others. We mostly use them when we are hurt, emotional and for apologies.
The books summarises that a person will naturally give Love the way they wish to receive it, and if two partners are on different wave-lengths, they will usually have more difficulty within their relationships. Chapman does make it very clear that this theory does not mean that two different Love Language Partners are not a ‘match’. The theory just suggests that until you both exercise the idea of each other’s true wants and needs, you will not love fully.

If you are anything like me, and you have barricaded yourself behind a wall of cement, or maybe you and your partner are going through some communication difficulty, this test is a great step in the right direction of understanding Love. Once you are aware of what you need, you will be better connected to yourself, your current partner, and more cautious when choosing a future partner.

It also made me think about my illness. My Illness has changed the way I love, and want to be loved. My results would have been very different if I took the test a year ago, because I was unappreciative and saw life in a different light. I realised that it doesn’t matter if I am sick – I can still be loved.

My results left me with a sense of empowerment. I felt as though I regained immediate control of how I want to be Loved. I will now be extremely cautious of who I share my heart with. Love is a deep connection, and we each deserve to feel it, but after taking this test I want to feel it the right way. Don’t be with someone who cannot meet your needs and makes you feel unimportant.

I want to be loved entirely.

I am eager to purchase the entire novel, as the website only gives you a snippet of the material.
Society summarises Love as one feeling; you either feel it or you don’t. Well what if some do not know how to feel it?
This post has taught me is that Love is made up of many different levels, and that there are many ways to Love. It is not as simple as just loving.

If my post hasn’t convinced you, just take ten minutes out of your day to take the test. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air from focusing on my symptoms.
Don’t overthink the questions. Some of them will definitely play on your thoughts. Just be natural; the first thing that comes to your mind.

Enjoy,

C, xo