A few days ago, I was watching a movie that followed a woman and a man who seemed totally unalike but found themselves in love with each other. The movie ended with them embracing and kissing for the very first time. This is very typical of "romantic" movies, with the plot often revolving around the pre-relationship stages. Rarely does a film actually follow the couple deeper into their relationship once it has been established.
Pondering this, I realized that this romanticized idea of falling for someone is affecting the way many view relationships, including myself at one point in my life. I used to find myself wondering what a couple did after the first few months of a relationship: how exactly does it stay interesting after the "interesting" part has already happened? I couldn't come up with any reason to actually stay with a person. I wanted to keep falling-to keep crushing-for it was romantic. I find myself sympathizing with women (and I'm sure men too) who cannot maintain a relationship. They've been taught their whole life about how fun it is to fall in love and naturally try to recreate that in their lives. They have never been-or rarely have been-introduced to the joys of staying in love.
We focus on this short time period of falling for someone and completely miss the big picture: going for walks with someone who knows everything about you, progressing in your life with someone by your side, and having someone who has been there for you and will be in the future. It may not be what our society deems interesting, but it sure is more wonderful than a first kiss and lasts much longer too. Staying in love is so much better and worthwhile then falling in love. Maybe in the future, we will make staying in love a priority in the media.
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