We have all experienced it before, saying I love you to someone and we don't hear it back. Nothing hangs in the air with such stillness as those words I love you passing through our lips and hanging in the air like the stale smoke of an extinguished fire. I am not only speaking about the I love you we might say to a partner, but an I love you we may say to a parent or friend too. For some of you that one time can be enough to fear saying it again. For others it may be just the leap you need to get past the fear of silence and try again. Which one are you? How comfortable are you saying I love you to the people in your life that matter?
The regret of my life is that I have not said 'I love you' often enough. - Yoko Ono
I happen to be a person that is comfortable saying I love you but it wasn't always that way. I learned the more I was open to saying I love you the less worried I was about the silence or weird pauses I may get and it got way easier with practice.
For a moment, think of saying I love you like planting seeds, the more you plant the more you will sew. Sure, like any worthwhile harvest you won't get it all at once but when your seeds begin to bloom you will be amazed at the field you are standing in.
I remember in an awkward moment years ago. I was having a heart to heart talk with a friend that was going through a difficult time. When the conversation came to an end I said goodbye, I love you, I did this on instinct not on purpose. It was a big oops moment and the phone hung from my neck like an albatross and I couldn't wait for the click to end the call. I stood there and mulled it over and I thought, what is wrong with saying I love you, this person is a dear friend and I do love her so I should be okay with saying it.
Through the years I have had many people in my life that I have said I love you to that didn't immediately reply. I truly believe that me saying it has made people more comfortable saying it too.
Fast forward to now, when I part with people I care for, I love you has become a sincere easily spoken expression just the way it is supposed to be. So be brave enough and say I love you more often. You just may help someone be brave enough to say it more too.
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