Good News: Love Isn't Dead, It's Just Overcomplicated
There are good butterflies and there are bad butterflies. And there's a good reason to know the difference between the two.
By Laura Roscioli
Photos by Lucas Tarrant
Published
If you’d asked me what falling love was supposed to feel like before the past six months, my answer would’ve been vastly different.
I probably would’ve said something yawningly predictable, like it feels “like you’re losing your mind,” or you feel “consumed and obsessive,” or something similar.
To me, before, falling in love was spending countless insecure hours in an emotional spiral, waiting for a text message to confirm that, in fact, the lover in question had not lost interest in me or the concept of “us” in the past 24 hours. It was “romantic gestures” like one or more of the following:
Choosing to go home with me on a night out
Texting me at all during daylight hours
Buying my drinks or food or coffee or literally anything at all
Saying that I look “pretty,” “nice,” or any positive-leaning adjective regardless of depth
Ignoring me in public because they “like me too much”
Kissing me without warning
Telling my friends or their friends that they thought I was hot
Wishing me a happy birthday
Randomly texting me an emoji without context