8 Reasons Love Gets Harder As You Grow Older

1. We used to run headfast into Love.

Only the naive heart of a child; a heart still unacquainted with the unjust side of life’s double personality can rush headfast into Love.

As we grow older, we learn to look before we leap. Without realising it, we start preparing for the fall before we have even jumped on the swing set.

2. We handed out Love in abundance.

Back when we were younger, we loved selflessly. Only the genuinely innocent heart of a child is truly capable of that selfless kind of Love.

As we grow older, we learn that the world is a dangerous playground; people rarely give without an expectation of receiving something in return. We learn that people are selfish, quick to take but slow to give Love. And so, as we grow older we learn to love cautiously, to give Love sparingly.

3. We Loved without fear.

Only those who have yet to be let down in Love can love without the fear of heartbreak. When we were younger, we had yet to learn the fear of rejection and unreciprocated Love.

As we grow older, we learn that the words of Love you share with others are not always appreciated, are not always returned back to you. Too often, the dreams that you have shared with another are returned back to you broken and battered. We learn that people hardly take care of their own toys and so you would be wise not to trust them with your most precious gifts.

4. We knew only the blue skies of Love.

A child that has yet to draw clouds knows only to paint blue skies. As we grow older, we start to anticipate the rain, to expect the storm. And so we shelter within the walls we build to protect ourselves from the devastation that we see as a predetermined successor to Love.

5. We believed we would succeed in Love.

A child is brought up to believe that anything is possible; that should they put their heart and mind to it, they can accomplish great things. As we grow older, we learn that your heart and mind can only take you so far, that some things are beyond your reach. And as we experience failure after failure we condition ourselves to be content with our lowered expectations.

6. We used to be in awe of Love.

When we were younger, we did not understand Love. And like all the other things we did not quite understand, our curious little minds were eager to know more, amazed at the little things we discovered. As we grow older, Love becomes something we look for, something we expect. We lose the element of surprise.

7. We saw Love everywhere we looked.

When we were younger, we had yet to learn the varied definitions of Love. We knew of Love by feeling, unconcerned by the precise labels and definitions that we strive to assign to specific feelings as we grow older. When we were younger, we cared not for how we were loved and what type of Love it was.

We had yet to make the distinctions between romantic love and the love we felt for our family and friends. As we grow older, we spend too much time trying to decipher the Love that we are shown, putting too much emphasis on putting labels on our feelings.

8. We did not overthink Love.

Back then, we were not the over thinkers we are these days. In our younger days, we did not waste precious little moments scrutinising the concept of Love and how to do it properly. Now, we look to define Love before we partake in it. Isn’t that what you’re doing right now? Reading in search of some insight into the elusive concept of loving and being loved?

In light of the 8 reasons or more why Love is something we do better when we are younger, let me give you one little piece of advice.

Forget you are grown up for a while and Love like you used to.