Let me blow up this myth for you

Loving someone isn't always easy.

Lasting, true love exists, but maintaining a relationship takes work. It's not effortless. Nothing worth keeping in this life ever is.

Just because you love someone doesn't mean that things will always be easy with that someone. If you believe otherwise, you're in for a rude awakening the first time a problem or disagreement comes your way.

I can tell you after 13 years of marriage that the effort is well worth it. I can tell you that love doesn't die. (Granted, it may have it's darker days where it gets a little harder to see, but it never dies.) And in the end, it's stronger.

I think there are people who fall in love with the idea of being in love. I know I've had times in my life where that was the case. But the truth is that what's beyond falling in love is infinitely better, infinitely more meaningful, and a thousand times stronger. It's what survives the hardest circumstances life throws at you.

So, for those of you who believe that when love is right, it's easy, let me break that myth for you right now. It's whether or not you can find the strength to put everything you are into a lifetime commitment of bad as well as good. Because just like you have your own imperfections, so will the person you fall in love with, and you will have to decide if you can love them in their imperfection completely.