A sample of All The Love You Carry
All the Love You Carry
Charis Ed
Thought Catalog Books
thoughtcatalog.com
New York • Los Angeles
Copyright © 2022 Charis Ed. All rights reserved.
Published by Thought Catalog Books, an imprint of the digital magazine Thought Catalog, which is owned and operated by The Thought & Expression Company LLC, an independent media organization based in Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles, California.
This book was produced by Chris Lavergne and Noelle Beams. Art direction and design by KJ Parish. Special thanks to Isidoros Karamitopoulos for circulation management.
Visit us at thoughtcatalog.com and shopcatalog.com.
Made in the United States of America.
ISBN 978-1-949759-51-8
I. Love & Life
when love is found…
The love you have been searching for, you already carry inside your heart. How long will you wait before you demand what you deserve? How long will you wait before you ask for what is best? How long will you wait before you truly live? What does it take for you to begin?
It only takes one serendipitous moment to change the course of your entire life. It only takes one cosmic collision to meet that one person who deserves to hold your heart. It only takes one decision to devote all your energy to your life’s destiny. It only takes one plot twist to rewrite the rest of your story. It only takes one second to alter whatever predestined fortune that exists. It only takes one moment, it only takes one chance, it only takes one leap to change everything you now understand, to change the life you now live, to change the future you now see. It only takes one.
You are the only one holding yourself back from all the wonders life can give. You are the only one who holds the power to move forward or to retreat. You are the one in control of your fear. You are the one who decides to either let go of or take the hand of an opportunity. You are the one who allows what goes and what remains. You are the one who chooses what solidifies or what evaporates. You have the power to destroy and the power to create. Your potentials are boundless and there are countless roads that you can take. You either overspeed, go slow, or you hit the breaks. You are the sculptor, the painter, the writer, the conductor of your fate. You can choose to be ordinary or you can choose to be great.
One of the most indistinct concepts in our reality is the culture of love. We all believe love is an emotion, a feeling, butterflies in our stomachs, or a romance everlasting but it isn’t. Love isn’t all the lies we’ve been fed in movies or in novels, love isn’t dating or cycling in and out of relationships, because, at the end of it all, love is a skill. Love is what we do, love is what we show other people, love is what we practice every day, love is consistency, love is how we live our lives, love is the kindness we show others even at times they don’t deserve it, love is the decision that you’ll be there for someone regardless of what they do, love is unconditional, love is truth, love is the patience that you will support one with their growth, love is the acceptance of someone’s past, present, and future. Love is the understanding of all the events that led to one person’s character and behavior. Love isn’t jumping off a bridge when someone asks you to, love isn’t sex, love isn’t flowers or candlelight dinners or chocolates, love isn’t the exhilarating moments two humans share, love isn’t all excitement, love isn’t all feelings, love isn’t all attraction, love is not just chemistry, love is deeper than all of these things for love is the choice to stay no matter the case, no matter the weather, love is the choice to remain because you’ve decided to stay with one person forever, love is mental resilience. Love is the admiration for someone’s virtue not for someone’s exterior, love is the admiration for someone’s character not one’s perfection because perfection doesn’t exist. Love is the act of being there through the best and the worst, love is the promise that you will protect each other from everything that isn’t good, it is a promise to protect each other from the cruelty of the world, love is kind, love is nurturing and never hurting, love is the silent presence of someone wishing you all the good things life can bring, love is the constant teaching and learning with another human being because it isn’t love if there is no growth, it isn’t love if one is being held back and only one is moving forward, it isn’t love if one of the two whole loses themselves in another, for true love is a walking side by side, love is a growing together towards a common pursuit. Love is the permanent thing that is with you through the light and through the dark, through the ups and the downs, through all the weaknesses and through all of the strengths. Love is the one thing in your life that lasts, that’s consistent, and that’s good. Love is permanent and never temporary. Life is nothing without love. If there’s one thing this journey will teach you is that life is synonymous with love. They are not the same words but they have the same meaning.
If you ever find yourself in a position where all you can do is cry, if you’ll ever be in a place where everything around you is falling apart and there is nothing else you can do but to let it all fall down, if you ever find yourself standing on an unstable ground beneath, if you ever reach a point where you question what you are even doing here, if you ever find yourself in so much pain you never knew a human heart can possibly even bear to survive, if you’ll ever be someplace where you’ll stumble and the world’s punches make it seem so difficult for you to stand up again and rise, know I have been to all these places and I can tell you with all certainty and all heart that the way out is to get through to the other side. And there is so much beauty, so much life, so much wonder, and so much love beyond what’s visible to you right now. You just have to hold on, you just have to survive, you need only push yourself to be powerful enough to rise once more. There is so much love and life beyond any of the pain we choose to grow from and decide to leave behind.
One day you will understand how it works. You’ll one day arrive at the place where you are wise enough to accept that some people aren’t meant to stay permanently in your life no matter how much you want them to. You will understand that some people are merely lessons no matter how much you want them to be your home. You’ll understand that some people are simply catalysts meant to give rise to the light inside of you so you can emerge from the darkness. You’ll realize that some people only serve as reminders of all the virtues you’ve already learned before. You’ll understand that some people are merely a caution, a warning, a foreseeing of the dangerous road that may lie ahead if you ever make the mistake of choosing the wrong path again. You’ll realize that it’s okay to let go because the beauty not only lies in the pain, but also in the love you’ve expended and earned and all of the lessons you’ve learned. What matters most is that you’ve grown from the hurt and know that from every ending, you will pick yourself up courageously and begin again.
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