Considering together and independently is not a small topic. many of the readings that will follow are built on top of it, and much of our planning will orbit around the same central question, how to live. since we knew each other, the answer to that question shifted. and in the past couple of days, it feels like it shifted forever. living independently once felt simpler, lighter, almost mechanical. now, as we keep leaning toward each other, it feels different, maybe heavier, maybe deeper, and we need to decide how to move forward with awareness instead of impulse.

But who said it has to be harder. maybe it only feels that way because at the beginning we had so much love to offer that we could not contain it. the way I think of it, love is not a limited resource. it is not an oil lake that eventually dries out. it is more like a river flowing from a spring. it was already inside us when we met, and when the doors opened it rushed out and drowned us both. perhaps what we are experiencing is simply the overflow, and with time the water will find its natural level. or maybe it will always remain intense, and intensity will become our normal. both possibilities are real, and both require that we choose consciously how to look at them.

Another concern we need to endure is how pleasurable this connection is for the brain. when something brings that much joy, everything else can feel pale in comparison. even the things we used to enjoy before, which are of course less boring than you, may struggle to compete with this feeling. so how are we going to handle that. simply, through a kind of dopamine detox, through regulation rather than restriction. we will try to return to enjoying our lives as we used to, not by reducing what we feel for each other, but by making space for the rest of life to breathe again. see quiet affection for what I mean when I say that love does not always need to be loud to be real.

Whatever of these is true, we do not need to overthink solutions or become so serious about anything unless if it works for us.