If you asked me 5 years ago what I thought was most important, I would’ve said love. I think I imagined love as the ultimate goal in life. And while it’s still high on the list of things I find important, the older I get the more I value companionship. If I find love unattainable or unsustainable, I can only hope that I can find comfort in the way companionship. Love can be sweet, but without the valuable component of companionship-someone to spend your life with-love can be a lonely place. However, companionship on by itself can provide a measure of comfort without the trials of love. Maybe I just need someone to talk to and ask about their day and eat dinner with. Increasingly, that seems more palatable than the disappointing dates and troublesome issues of emotion that I’m dealing with now. Perhaps I need to just dispense with the idea of romance and find someone who just wants to sit and keep me company.

That sounds defeated, but when I look at what I find important, I realize that the torrid passion of love is not only difficult to sustain, it’s not even that interesting to me anymore. I’ve gotten the flowers. Been on all the the dates. The candy, the candles, the trips? Been there, done that. And it’s all sweet. I appreciated it. But where did it get us in the end?

I think placing a greater value on the merits of companionship could help me focus on what I really find important.