suf·fer·ing /ˈsəf(ə)riNG/ (noun): the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship.
Suffering is ultimately a choice, albeit a difficult one. It is difficult in the sense that although we are aware that suffering usually equates to heartbreak, pain and hardship, we turn a blind eye to logic and plunge ourselves head first into a situation or a choice which would bring us some form of suffering.
This is usually the case for aspects of our lives which heavily involves our emotions, such as (but not limited to) love, friendship and family…most especially love.
Love – romantic love to be exact – is probably the one emotion which rewires our logic, clouds our judgement and our sense of right and wrong. When love is involved we make decisions or actions which cause us to suffer or make others suffer. Sometimes, we break our own hearts or we break others; sometimes we bleed on others because of our suffering or others bleed on us because of their sufferings.
So, can it still be considered love if one is suffering for love or because of it? Some say that we sometimes mistake attachment for love and we suffer because of the attachments we’ve formed throughout the course of a relationship. We suffer because of the memories we choose to keep and the moments we choose to chain ourselves to…
So how do you know it’s genuine love and not merely a form of attachment, or a desperation or a loneliness which we think can only be filled by another person’s presence? We suffer or some of us choose to suffer because of love…so if love and suffering always go together, should we reconsider before we love another?