"But if the love is so complicated in the first place, I just don’t know if that’s a road worth travelling. " - Kovie Biakolo

"I don’t need love to feel like I’ve given up on trying and will settle for what’s available because I’m exhausted. I need it to feel like we deserve each other because we authentically want each other. And I don’t need love to have this ever-burning fire of emotion. I need it to be sincerely passionate but calming and playful, in a world where so many things can stress you out. I don’t need love to solely prevent a lifetime of aloneness. I need it to feel like a true friend, a true companion, will care for me simply, purely, and as uncomplicatedly as possible. And I will do the same.

Maybe love is the easy part and everything else is complicated – relationships, marriage, etc. Or maybe it’s just people who choose to be complicated and choose to make their love complicated. And as the cynical part of me is trying to die slowly each day, I realize more and more that I just don’t want complicated love. It’s not that I think love from any person is perfect because it’s not; people are not perfect. But it shouldn’t feel like the difficult task and burden that I seem to witness. It shouldn’t feel like constantly wrestling for a sign of certainty from the other person; anxiously waiting for their phone call, endless tears and never-ending fear of making one minor mistake that could leave you heartbroken. Because this is what I mostly witness from my generation. But I just can’t believe that this is it – this can’t be it especially when we’re so young.

Love is a sacrifice. It’s a desire to want to take care of another person. It’s putting that person’s needs before yours. It’s accepting the disappointments and imperfection of that person and dealing with the pains that come with that. But love should also be fun. You should feel the heat but not feel like you’re getting burned. It should be about laughter and it should be light; it should be simple."