Picture: Counsel #28 — Don’t Lose You CR 175.1
Real love isn’t about losing yourself to keep someone else happy. It’s more about two whole people choosing to love and uplift each other while staying true to who they are. In a healthy relationship, both people care deeply about each other’s happiness and well-being, and will go out of their way to make each other feel supported and valued, not out of obligation, but because they genuinely want to. CR 175.2
This is the type of love that honors individuality. You don’t have to give up your passions, your purpose, or your personality to make someone else feel secure. Instead, you grow together while staying grounded in who God made you to be. Visually, love should feel like two strong trees growing side by side, not tangled vines choking each other out. You can support and protect each other while still staying grounded in your own identity and purpose. That’s the true foundation of a lasting, healthy relationship. Real love lets you be fully you while helping the other person thrive, too.[182] https://theonlinetherapist.blog/the-concept-of-individuality-in-a-relationship-and-why-it-is-essential/ CR 175.3
“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10 NIV CR 175.4
“We have an individuality and an identity that is our own. No one can submerge his identity in that of any other.” Ellen White in The Faith I Live By, p. 165 CR 175.5
Reflect: Have you become too dependent on a relationship for your identity? CR 175.6
