When I started this story, it was actually more of a way to archive pieces of text from my self-reflection journal. Whenever I have strong feelings or thoughts about something, I wrote them down. Sometimes I do this on paper, on my laptop, or in the notes on my phone. And usually, these stories remain hidden from the outside world. But the more I collected, the more this story started to take on a life of its own. Up until now, I had never really shared these stories publicly. Not in the way I am doing now with this story. This story about a new love worked its way out.
But not every love story ends well in reality. The majority of love stories in books do have a happy ending. Because we read romantic stories to crave a certain form of hope. With main characters who are destined for each other. The romantic love story where, despite possible setbacks, misunderstandings, and complications, the two main characters always find each other in the end. In fairy tales, it’s then “all’s well that ends well.” But that’s not exactly how this personal story played out. Although I prefer to spend my time in a fantasy world where everything always seems more beautiful, I could no longer avoid facing reality.
Being in love is something beautiful that people endlessly draw inspiration from. But it is also something that can completely lead us astray. Not all love is always returned. And certainly not always in the way we hope that love will be returned. Falling in love can drive us crazy with helplessness and make us make radical and uncontrollable choices. You might suddenly set everything aside and move mountains and oceans just to spend a few minutes with the one you’re so in love with. But is the love reciprocated?
Not everyone falls in love, and certainly not everyone shares the same types of feelings. There are so many different forms of love, half of which I don’t even understand or have knowledge of. Not everyone loves people the way I love them, and certainly not everyone expresses it the way I do. This story is my experience of a love that ultimately taught me a lot about how loving can be done in a different way than the traditional one. How not every love story has the same romantic “all’s well that ends well” ending.
This story touches on themes such as sex, drug use, self-destruction, and love. The way these are described may be offensive or confusing to some people.
Martijn Winkel 