Valentines day is either anticipated, embraced or dreaded. A day of the year that brings reminders of love found, love lost or love not yet discovered.
At any of those stages, love is not easy. Love takes work, deep care for each other and lots of communication.
While Romeo and Juliet have been made into a iconic true-love couple, lets be real. A few things were overlooked that ended in tragedy.
While this is a dramatic example, the point still stands.
Falling in love like Romeo and Juliet is easy, staying in love takes work. Just look at the rates of divorce. The National Center for Health Statistics reports
- Number of marriages: 2,096,000
- Marriage rate: 6.8 per 1,000 total population
- Divorce rate: 3.6 per 1,000 population
How can we make our love last? Looking into the animal kingdom, we might try to learn a little from penguins. These little ones not only propose to their mates, but stay with them for life!
Penguin Proposal Story
When a male penguin falls in love with a female penguin, he searches the entire beach to find the perfect pebble and when he finally finds it, he waddles over to her chosen one and places the pebble right in front of her feet. If she picks the peddle, it means she accept the proposal.
There are a number of similarities of a penguins’ proposal story with what humans do. Instead of a perfect pebble, it is the perfect ring. Many men (or women) search stores for the perfect ‘pebble.’ And just like a female penguine, if the the future bride (or groom) accepts the ring, the two are set in motion to be married. But unlike penguins, humans are not guaranteed to stay on the ‘happily ever after’ path.
Because we are not programmed like penguins, our relationships take daily work, specifically the development of a deep care for each other. Because, even after 50 years together, couples will still have days like this:
So whether you are exploring dating, happily single or in a committed relationship:
Love loyally like penguins and learn from Romeo & Juliet.
Dig your relationship roots deep in the foundations of care and communication.
