Essay Sample on Personal Relationship and Wellness

Healthy relationships are an essential component of well-being. There is enough evidence that highlights that healthy connections contribute to an extended, prosperity, and happy life. Unfortunately, there are health risks associated with non-healthy relationships, for example, being isolated in one's life, which will automatically lead to risks such as substance abuse, high blood pressure, and obesity (Skogrand et al., 2013). Studies show that emotional support implemented through healthy connections can enhance psychological health. Next, communication is a second attribute that is essential in the daily operations of human beings. Majorly, there are verbal and non-verbal communications that have the capabilities that affect relationships. Body language, gestures, and emotional responses can be an essential part of a healthy discussion (Skogrand et al., 2013). The paper is designed to define love, theories and perspectives of love, love exercised in the pop culture, gender and its roles, the connection of gender and experience of love, personal strengths that assist in enhancing influence on receiving love within the various relationships and how healthy relationships are fused into lives to strengthen love. Therefore, the central theme of the paper focuses on the discipline of family and consumer science, specifically, personal relationships and wellness.

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Love

To define love, one needs to first differentiate between the collective identity of love and conscious love, since there is a dismal difference between them. People grow up in communities that accept the norms of falling in love with a second party or an object. Still, research states that these populations often lack the knowledge of feel-thin and how it is processed since they are unable to acknowledge and understand who the feeling of love is and why it occurs. Unfortunately, it is impossible to estimate the norms of useless suffering could be avoided by altering the way humans perceive love. Love is a powerful phrase that draws people together since both parties believe that if they are not together, life becomes incomplete. Additionally, it revolves around the norms that one puts complete trust on a second party with his/her life, and the pursuit of happiness is often the ultimate goal.

Love is divinely inspired, and it can be broken down into various simple norms. Majorly, there are five types of love, namely romantic love, companionate love, infatuated love, empty love, and stupid love. Romantic love involves engagement activities such as intimacy and passion with and without commitment. Next, companionate love focuses on privacy and responsibility without the presence of emotion. Additionally, infatuated love involves the norms of only passion that happens to those who are starting a relationship. Empty love is a commitment without intimacy and passion, for example, arranged marriages. Lastly, fatuous love is more or less getting engaged after dating for roughly a month.

Critiques Love Theories

The triangular theory of love dictates that there are three features of love, intimacy, commitment, and passion. The issue with this theory is the perception that sexual attractions between individuals that are in love with each other are considered as components of love. The sexual attraction is an issue that often occurs at the same time as love but often considered a separate approach. Not to mention, the doctrine has flaws that highlight that asexual individuals are unlikely to consummate love due to the lack of passion among these individuals. The idea is not entirely correct since research highlighted that the asexual partners experience emotion. Nonetheless, it states that friendship is without any standards of commitments, which are the topic of contention.

The color wheel of love was established using three primary scales that use Latin and Greek phrases. It is composed of Eros, Ludus, Storge. Additionally, there are secondary scales such as pragma, agape, and mania. Unfortunately, the theory is full of flaws as well as strengths; therefore, it is questionable on how and where to implement this theory. Next, there is no balance between the scales since some are more influential than others; thus, creating a doubted norm of highlighting when to implement the approach. For example, most of the mania features are flaws that are composed of jealousy, obsessiveness, and co-dependence. Agape leads to vulnerability to abuse, while pragma violates the cultural standards of a community. Unfortunately, with these flaws, the two theories are unlikely to be used in defining love.Love in Pop-Culture

In modern society, the approach of love is highly associated with romance, intimacy, and cheesy gestures that enhance happiness and fulfillment among the concerned parties. People perceive love as they see it in movies, media, and television programs and the norms of assimilation into the mainstream culture. However, not all populations experience the same love. According to the works of John Alan Lee in his book "Colors of Love: An Exploration of the Ways of Loving," the author introduced various types of love. Indeed, multiple types of love are used in pop-culture, for example, Eros (romantic love), Ludus (playful love), Storge (friendship love), Pragma (practical love), Mania (obsessive love), and Agape (altruistic love).

Eros is the most significant love in the pop-culture sector. It is the exercising of passion, and it is all about chemistry, and examples of movies that have implemented such love include "The Titanic," specifically actor Jack and actress Rose and the play Romeo and Juliet, where both people reciprocate their love with deep affection. In Ludus, everything is nothing but just a game, and the actors have several partners, and the entire relationship lack commitment. Examples in the pop-culture include the movie "Friends," specifically the actor Joey and "Friends with Benefits," the actress Jamie. It highlights that having sexual relationships does not mean that the parties must be in love.

Storge is more of an affectionate passion that begins with friendship, then the bond grows deeper and stronger then finally turns into love. The approach minimizes the norms of romance. Examples of films that portray this type of love include "Harry Potter Series actor and actress Ron and Hermione. Besides, Pragma is the logical norm based on love, especially when getting out of a relationship, and an example is the film "The Proposal." Equally, Mania is a Greek term that emphasizes obsession, and this type of love is extreme, and it often ends up being destructive. A perfect instance is "Fatal Attraction" and "The Boy Next Door." Lastly, Agape is a type of love that promotes selfless and unconditional since there are no demands anything in return, for instance, "The Pursuit of Happiness."

Gender Identity

Gender identity is a personal conception of an individual as a male or female. This approach is intimately rated to the concept of gender role, which is an external manifestation of personality that identifies gender identity generally, as self-identified as well as a fusion of inherent and external factors (Skogrand et al., 2013). For instance, a person is identified male due to the masculine terms and gender identity of male. Gender expectations are norms that define gender roles, for example, men are expected to be the protectors, providers, and heads of the households while women are the nurturers, housekeepers as well as submissive to their partners (Skogrand et al., 2013). Additionally, gender expressions highlight that men are supposed to be the ones to take the first move of expressing how they feel, and in the case a woman takes the role, she is seen as desperate (Skogrand et al., 2013). Presently, women are showing their emotions to men since men are isolating themselves from relationships.

Personnel Strength and Outline

Majorly, I believe in open conversation without judging the intentions of someone. In the case a woman expresses her love towards, me I must engage in a public discussion and ensure the relationship starts from friendship levels then slowly and steadily ensure I take her seriously since it took her efforts. By participating in an open relationship, I will pay attention to her expressions, especially body language, since it assists in understanding the level of love she has. The approach of open communication is an approach of reciprocating love and accepting it. Using this approach will assist in establishing trust, compassion, passion, as well as getting to know ourselves as a couple better.

Summary

To conclude, love is a problematic phenomenon that has different approaches to explanations. Majorly, there are various types of love, and it is due to the creation of theories about the features of love that has made it possible for pop-culture to infuse these styles into films and music. Indeed, to have a healthy relationship with an individual, there are different approaches one can take, explicitly following one's strengths and weaknesses. My strength covers excellent listening skills and the patient to have open conversations, making me use it to take one step at a time in defining my relationship status.

References

Skogrand, L., DeFrain, J., & Olson, D. (2013). Marriages and families: Intimacy, diversity, and strengths. New York, United States: McGraw-Hill Education.