Blog Post #7: My Favorite Word

 My favorite word of all time is love. It probably sounds cheesy at first, but I love the different ways you can use it. There are a multitude of definitions for what love is, even looking up the word there are at least 15 different ways to explain it. One definition that stood out to me was from Oxford Languages, 2023 which states that love is “an intense feeling of deep affection”. Loving someone or something is a true and genuine connection to them. It is a feeling and emotion that can be so strong or also so weak. I love how different and subjective each definition can be, depending on the context or situation. 

For me, love means a multitude of things. It can be shown through acts of kindness or quality time with people. It can be love between childhood friends, family, or a stranger you clicked with on the street. People do not like to use the word loosely, because many say it is “a strong word”. I think it is a strong word to use, but that is why I like to use it so much. I love a lot of things, people, places, memories, and ideas. It is a great way to express how I feel about things that I enjoy. I love my family members, my childhood friends, my college friends, and new friends that I have met. There are also different types of love too. There is self love, romantic love, affectionate love, familiar love, and more. These types of loves can define so many different circumstances that happen throughout my life. 

Self love is a really important type of love. It is something that is pretty new to me. I think it is a vital aspect of life and a person’s happiness. How can you love others if you cannot love yourself? Self love is something that I believe everyone needs and deserves to feel. There are so many different ways to love yourself, which I think is the best part. Whether it is affirmations in the mirror from a TikTok video, or finding five things to compliment yourself every morning, they can make a huge impact on yourself. Practicing self love can be a difficult task, but it is so rewarding. Loving myself has changed the way I perceive myself and the world around me. 

A quality I really like about myself is that I love people hard. When I love someone, I love them deeply and unconditionally. Love languages are different ways of expressing love. I personally love quality time and gift giving for others, but I like receiving quality time and words of affirmation. There are a bunch of different tests online to find which one to receive and which one you give to others. Even if they are silly quizzes online, I would say they describe my type of love pretty accurately. Overall, love is an emotion that everyone experiences, but they have the ability to experience it in their own way and make it special.