Yasmin Zayed @yas.zayed on instagram

Love, a universal language translated hundreds of ways. There are many forms; romantic, platonic, familial, self. Each with vast and endless possibilities. Romantic love is that of perception, but also of continuities. To explain, the love stories that take up our bookshelves contain different, specific details, yet all remain consistent in their core sentiments. These sentiments are what I, a hopeless romantic, have chosen to categorize in four phases, or more specifically, seasons. Because I, just like those very love stories, am a continuity of possibilities. 

 

Summer, quite frankly, the most cliche setting for the beginning of romantic love. A season representative of youth and a lack of, well, reality. It becomes the lotus flower of life, entrapping you with a single bite. Summer is a time for adventure and exploration of new possibilities without the restrictions of responsibility, but this can also present a problem in itself. Attraction, lust, aphrodisiacs, all adjectives of what is to describe the hazy allure of the season. Romeo and Juliet is the prime example of the heady stage of attraction. The pair barely knew each other long enough to consider themselves in love, however, the air of possibility and freedom is what attracts them towards something hopeful. Now, this isn't to say that attraction will always be a negative thing, but it's a tool, a very powerful one that you must use on the err of caution. Love is extremely tricky; it’s magnetism can occur at any time within the relationship, but what happens when other feelings get involved…

 

Spring, the material of classic tales. This season is one of pure, vibrant adoration. A feeling which makes the world brighter and the birds sing. It’s emergent, graceful, a possibility. It could be the start of something new (get the reference?). It’s a hopeless romantic’s favorite, because in a picture-perfect world, it is truly innocent. This is the honeymoon phase of feelings and while it is beautiful, it is, again, powerful. For those blinded by delusion this may become the end of what was once a beautiful story. But, who knows?  Maybe there are some people out there lucky enough to never have to abandon  spring and its bright-eyed feelings. Maybe it’s about enjoying what has been in front of you the whole time. Maybe it can blossom just as the flowers do. 

 

Fall, a season overlooked just as the feelings pertaining to it. What accompanies the innocence of adoration is the unknown. This is when you have to endure the issues undiscussed and find a balance, both together and alone. It is a time of reflection and exploration of what was evaded for so long. A time of maturing in ways you didn’t know were possible before. Just as Robert Frost one said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” You must diverge from each other long enough to find where you end and your partner begins. Balance is difficult; finding it with a new person who has all new feelings, possibilities and hopes, is even more difficult. But in the end, it’s important to recognize that even if the brown leaves aren’t as bright as the flowers, they’re still just as hopeful. 

 

Winter, for those of you reading right now, I must understand your confusion in this timeline of seasons. True love doesn’t follow any course set for it. Romance occurs just as naturally as grass grows and with the right nurturing, it can sustain. Winter, the time of sustenance. This season is when the holidays occur, lives are merged, and the gap between intersectionality is bridged. This is a time of finding warmth in the cold through each other. Consider this the yang of all the seasons: light and warm, even though it is chilled outside. It’s also a moment of continuance for the cycle of the seasons. Making new memories with the adventure of summer, the vibrancy of spring, and the maturity of fall. 

 

Attraction, adoration, reflection, settlement, all forces that come together in whatever shape and form to become romantic love.