-Question submitted by Anonymous

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Dannielle Says: 

I’m a firm believer that love is never enough. I also firmly believe you have to do what’s best for you.

I mean, love is amazing / the best / incredible / life changing.. but it’s rarely ever ENOUGH. You know? People are too complicated for love to just work out and all your problems just solve themselves. A lot more goes into making a relationship work and sometimes, regardless of the amount of love the two of you share, shit just doesn’t work out. 

This doesn’t mean you’re broken or they’re broken or you’ll never find love again. It means you’ve opened your heart to someone, you loved and were loved by another human and it was almost perfect. HOWEVER, the big huge thing that is making everything crumble? It’s the universe telling you that there’s something even more incredible out there. There is someone out there who understands you completely and you understand them completely and you have all the same goals and hopes and the two of you are gonna rock the world together. ORRR there is someTHING out there just waiting for you to find it; a passion, a dream, a goal, a trip around the globe…

Everything happens for a reason. It might take you 3 months or 5 years or 2 decades to figure out what that reason was, but trust me, if you work hard and follow your dreams and do what’s best for you, you WILL figure it out. 

Kristin Says:

I agree with Dannielle - love alone is not enough to carry you through life or sustain a relationship. Love is beautiful, necessary, and crucial in many areas in life, but it can’t just stand up on its own and make everything okay. I have fiercely loved many individuals in my life who I couldn’t sustain a relationship with —- and I still fiercely love those people.

Timing is extremely important in shaping that love and turning it into a tool that promotes growth and strength. If I were the person I am today when I started dating my first girlfriend, our relationship would have been entirely different.  I would have handled our fights differently, I would have handled our time together differently… I would have handled our love differently.

Trust me when I tell you that your experiences with love right now - especially the experiences that end in uncertainty and confusion - are the experiences that will lead you to a love that is enough. That love will come along with confidence, communication, independence, vulnerability, and patience. Understand that it is okay to love someone and to walk away from that person when you know that things aren’t right. That isn’t failure - that is growth in its most powerful form.