“If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
—Unknown⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I used to hate this quote. I’m a Taurus. I like control. I know what I want and when I get it, I don’t let go. And I am choosy about who and what I love. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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When I love, I love deeply, wholly, completely. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Some have even said it feels like smothering, although that is certainly never my intent. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I mean well. But recent experience has taught me that I cling too tightly. Maybe it’s my abandonment issues from the past. Maybe it’s insecurity. Maybe it’s because I love so hard and so deep that it starts to consume me… and sometimes the other person, too. ⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I will never stop loving hard, and I will never stop fighting for what I love (and the people I love). But what I have learned recently is that sometimes you DO have to let go of the things you love. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Setting something (or someone) free can be the greatest act of love. Knowing that it will completely break your heart to lose them, but doing it anyway because you know it’s what’s best for them IS the best way to love someone. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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True love isn’t always about getting what you want. Real love is unconditional. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This means you love without the requirement that they love you back, or that they stay with you, or that they give you what you want, or that they show love in return in the ways you seek, or that they make you feel safe and secure… or anything else you might be needing right now. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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True love just IS. No expectations. No limitations. No requirements. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And when that which you love wants to be free, the greatest, most selfish act of love and kindness you can offer is to let it go.