I NEED TO BE LOVED!
Self explanatory title;)
Meredith Gray once said “Pick me. Choose me, Love me”. I don’t remember what prompted her to say these words, it’s been almost a decade since I watched Grey’s Anatomy. Somehow out of all the insightful things I could have remembered from a medical TV show, this is the one that stuck with me. I wonder why.
I need to be loved and I mean this in the most platonic way ever. Lately, all everyone seems to want to do is be alone. “The cost of community is inconvenience”, but what happens when no one is willing to be inconvenienced for you? Why is it so hard for people to go the extra mile, to ask you to go for a walk, to check in, to just show up? I keep replaying that one scene of Jo March from little women when she finally admits, “But I’m so lonely”.
Adult friendships take effort. As much as I’d like it to be high school and consider our lunch break gossips as quality time they’re not. We are in our twenties now, grown adults who unfortunately need to be dragged out of the house, reminded to breathe, and have mental checkups here and there. We crave community, yet so many of us expect care and attention without giving any in return. And I’m not here for unrequited love, even if it’s platonic.
Isolation has become glorified. More and more people take TikTok think pieces a little too seriously, cutting people of or protecting their peace at the slightest inconvenience. While these unsolicited internet advices are valuable IN CONTEXT many apply them so rigidly that they end up making themselves and those who need them lonely. We were never meant to be alone. We are wired to connect, to touch some grass and sit out in the sun. And yet, we deny ourselves and each other this simple need. For what?
“Love has never been a popular movement”. Maybe that’s EXACTLY why we should be radical with it, show up, be present and care for the people in our lives. Community is never convenient, but to avoid connection just to not feel anything at all? What a waste (reminds me of Elio’s dad monologue from CMBYN).
A REMINDER: reach out to the people you care about, even if its just a quick "hi". you never know who might really need it : )
