The Many Faces of Love (And the Unexpected Ways It Finds Us)

By Honey | LivelyByHoney.com🍯

What if the secret to finding lasting love isn’t in trying harder—but in healing deeper, dreaming bolder, and daring to believe you deserve the real thing? Up next: a heart-forward piece on manifesting a love that’s playful, passionate, and built to last—the kind that lights you up and settles your soul. The best is yet to come. 💛

I find it endlessly fascinating how powerful love can be. It’s both exhausting and exhilarating. It can fill your soul to the brim, make your heart race, and your spirit soar—and it can also bring great pain, longing, and ache. Your heart can melt at the thought of someone you love, and it can break just as easily over someone you love. That’s the paradox of love—it opens us wide, and in doing so, it makes us vulnerable to both the highest joys and the deepest sorrows.

There are so many kinds of love, each with its own shape and depth.

There’s the love we feel for our parents—often our first and longest-standing connection. And for those of us blessed to be parents ourselves, the love we feel for our children is like nothing else. Fierce. All-consuming. Protective and unconditional. And then, if life blesses you even further, you get to become a grandparent.

I thought I had known all the types of love there were to know. But just when you think your heart has experienced its full capacity, life surprises you—and introduces an entirely new kind of love.

When my granddaughter was born, something shifted in me. Over these last 15 months, I have felt a love that I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams. Just when I think it can’t possibly grow any deeper, it does. It’s a love that makes me softer and stronger at the same time. It humbles me, expands me, and connects me to something bigger. It’s the kind of love I wish everyone could experience at least once in their lifetime—the magic of having a grandchild. It’s pure joy in its most radiant form.

And then there’s romantic love—that mysterious and complicated kind that sweeps in and often catches us off guard. I thought I was in love over the past few years. And in some ways, I was. I loved having someone to share things with. Someone whose company I enjoyed, who made me laugh, who liked many of the same things I did. But as time passed and the fog lifted, I began to see it more clearly for what it was: not true love, but perhaps a comforting connection during a time in both our lives when we needed something steady—something familiar.

It was closeness, not forever-ness. It was company, not commitment. And I now believe that when two people are truly in love, the idea of being apart is unbearable. When one or both can imagine life without the other—and even begin walking toward it—that’s when you know it wasn’t true love. It may have been a beautiful season, one that served its purpose, taught important lessons, and helped each of us through a time of uncertainty. But seasons end, and some loves are simply meant to teach, not stay.

Still, I’m grateful for that chapter. It helped me discover more about myself—what I want, what I need, and what I now know I deserve. The next time love finds me, I’ll be ready. Not because I’m chasing it, but because I’m no longer clinging to something that wasn’t mine.

Love is beautiful. It comes in so many shades—familial, romantic, platonic, maternal, spiritual. It doesn’t always look the way we expected, but it always has something to teach us. And the one thing our hearts should never do is close off. Because there is always more love waiting in this world for us. Love we haven’t yet imagined. Love that is being prepared just for us.

And when the time is right—if our hearts are open—our true love, the one meant for us, will find us. And suddenly, all the confusion, the ache, and even the goodbyes… will finally make sense.

🍯 Honey Note:

Don’t let a heartache convince you that love isn’t for you. Every kind of love you’ve ever known—every tender moment, every tear, every goodbye—was preparing you for the love that will feel like home. The kind that doesn’t just make you feel chosen, but cherished. Stay open, stay hopeful, and keep loving in all the ways that make life feel full. The best love story might be the one that hasn’t started yet.

With a heart full of love (in all its forms),

Honey – Lively by Honey

P.S.

Somewhere out there, someone is dreaming of a love like yours—gentle, deep, and full of light. Don’t settle. Don’t rush. The one who’s meant to hold your heart will recognize its beauty the moment they feel it beat next to theirs. And when they do, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without that kind of love.