There are so many definitions of love and if we’re cognizant that everyone possibly feels love in a different way, that can mean there are billions of different ways to actually describe it. The funny thing is, the unique way we each describe love can actually affect how we show it.

There are so many different types of love: Love for our family, love for our friends, love for our favourite movie or TV show, love for our pets, love based purely on lust, romantic love, unrequited love and all the loves in between. Sometimes I feel like I have so much love for so many people and things that my heart could just burst but not everyone feels love the same way.

I recently realized that some people are scared of love. At some point in their lives they decided that love was too big for them, maybe they got hurt or maybe they never really grew up understanding the sentiment. They have locked their hearts in a tiny box to protect it, not wanting it to break or be dismantled any more than it has been already.

Sometimes these people can affect us and make us question how we ourselves define love. We question their feelings, not understanding why they aren’t expressing their love more openly or why they don’t seem to love much of anything at all.

But how other people define love is not important. The most important thing any of us can do is understand how we love, why we love, and the ways we express our love to those closest to us and to the rest of the world. At the end of the day, the only control we have is over our own hearts and too many times we hold back our feelings unsure how our love will be taken in a world so often consumed with hate.

Sometimes we forget that our life experiences are unlike anyone else’s but if you are someone who is lucky enough to still have a heart full of love, remember that what matters in your life is how YOU define it. The world could use more love these days but if we all continue to be scared to show love because it might not match another’s definition then we could end up in a stalemate, constantly waiting for a love than may never come.

Choose your definition of love, understand your heart’s desires and allow yourself to love whoever, whatever or wherever you may so choose. There will always be people in this world who are scared to love, who aren’t sure what love is, who have vowed to never love again. There will always be people who may not love you back but that’s okay because as long as you have the potential to love you will never be without it in your heart.