The Love of Your Life

‘The love of your life’ does not have to be a person. 

So many of us have been shaped by conventional values to think that ‘the love of our life’ must be about a lover, a child, a soulmate, or a family. 

But the truth is, to each of their own.  

The love of your life should be anything that makes your heart sings. 

It can be anything. Really. Anything. 

It can be a hobby, a pet, a mission, an activity, a city, a culture, a profession, a subject, a goal. 

It can be something like: Food, mathematics, art, travel, fishing, Scandinavia, making friends, talking to strangers. 

It can be the strangest, weirdest things. 

To reach our deepest potential, we need something that moves us emotionally, stimulates us intellectually, shakes us spiritually,  and allows us to be consumed by it entirely. 

The love of our life brings us joy, purpose, and meaning to our existence. 

Have you ever had an 'out of body' experience where you forgot time and space and were totally immersed in where you were and what you were doing?

In what moments in your life do you feel transcendent, do you feel deeply connected to 'God', ‘The Tao’, nature, the universal energy, sentient beings, or a force you can feel but not see?

Is there a place in the world that whenever you feel fatigued and disheartened, you close your eyes and travel to?

If you had only one month to live, where would you go and what would you do?

It is not uncommon that we would have had a time in our lives where we separate ourselves from what makes our hearts sing.  

It's not realistic," you had said. "It will not bring me a real career,” you had thought. "It's irrational,” so you hid your authentic desires from yourself and others. 

There were times when your passion tried to get your attention, but you were too busy 'being an adult' to give it a second look. 

But your dismissed dream did not just die. 

It remains dormant and silent, but it is alive. 

One day, when things get out of hand in your adult life - when things do not go according to plan, when you have a career setback, a relationship trauma, or a painful family conflict — your old friend comes knocking on your door. 

When this happens, it is often not a conscious decision, but a sense of urge, a compulsion, a nameless desire. 

Deep in your closet, you find your old friend —  the long lost 'love of your life' that you have banished and rejected all these years. 

When you pick it up, you find that time has not eroded your love one bit.

You feel as emotional, passionate and irrationally moved as when you were a teenager. 

Despite your feelings of guilt and shame, you slowly try to invest more time and energy into this love of your life.  You feel bad and you are afraid. You worry that this will interfere with your "adult" responsibilities.

But once you have taken small steps to reunite with what you truly love, you will see that your life has not fallen apart. In fact, the opposite happens. 

You are full of energy and enthusiasm.

Your days seem brighter, lighter. 

Even work that had become tedious is now bearable. 

People around you notice the difference - you beam with joy and exuberance. 

Your energy is contagious. 

At this point, a part of you may blame yourself for ignoring the love of your life for so long. You are angry at yourself for having hidden in the closet for so long, for not living authentically all these years. 

But you are not the only one. 

Jung has famously said that for many of us, the first half of our lives is about accumulating and adapting. It is only when we reach a turning point in our lives that we embark on a journey to reunite with our authentic selves. 

This is a time in your life when you meet yourself again. 

You have the power to rewrite rules that don’t work for you anymore. 

If you do not want to look back in old age to find that all your life you have betrayed yourself, you must not ignore the love of your life.  

You are at a pivotal point: Would you once again turn your back on your true love, or would you run towards it this time, with your one and only life?