Romantic love is useless.

[HeartIsAching]

Yeah, you're probably right man. You should just give up.

[bluesummer]

Interesting. Pretty much all of my friends (and myself) are in successful happy relationships going on 5-10 years or more. Maybe we're just abnormal.

Romantic love is replaced by a different kind of love over time. One that is far more deep and creates tighter bonds. Having a mutual respect for each other and being happy as individuals also has a lot to do with that. People think they need another person to complete them, but in truth they aren't going to be fulfilled by a partner unless they feel fulfilled as individuals first.

[Orsba]

I still hope I'll find that romantic love...

[smackie9]

Divorce rates are high because now women can support themselves outside of a marriage when say 60 70 years ago, most women stayed home while the man took care of the finacial end of things. The roles of men and women are now more equal, women have the power to leave an abusive or dead marriage instead of staying put because they don't have a means to support themselves.

[HeartIsAching]

Interesting. Pretty much all of my friends (and myself) are in successful happy relationships going on 5-10 years or more. Maybe we're just abnormal.

Romantic love is replaced by a different kind of love over time. One that is far more deep and creates tighter bonds. Having a mutual respect for each other and being happy as individuals also has a lot to do with that. People think they need another person to complete them, but in truth they aren't going to be fulfilled by a partner unless they feel fulfilled as individuals first.

I would say that what you describe is romantic love, but most people mistake infatuation for romantic love.

[FAndrews]

No matter how old i get i will always be a hopeless romantic and believer in romantic love, though i have yet to experience myself i have seen it all happen to people all around me. relationships are built on trust, attraction, understanding and a deeper connection.

[bluesummer]

I don't know HIA.....maybe it's the connotation of 'romantic' versus the definition.

[smackie9]

Like a fine bottle of wine or a delicious dinner....it gets finished and comes to an end. Then you anxiously await for the next one.

[Grimraven]

Wait, you just said that romantic love can last for 5 years and then you said romantic love does not exist. Do you mean romantic love does not last? Because saying it does not exist when it does in fact last for 5 years is a contradiction.

[Eric_from_Tampa]

For me, the so called romantic love is a mirage, which lasts about 2-5 years average then depending on the development of the relationship between the couple it can become a real love- a family love. I certainly believe brotherly (friend) love and family (filial) love exist, but I don't think romantic love exists. The closest thing to it is, for me, a mirage, a confusion between sexual desire and friend love. But that is my opinion and I may be wrong, since there is an almost negligible amount of people that seem to display this apparent form of love during all their lives, but I am pretty sure most who display it do not really feel it, and the reason is the way they also fight, argue, and contradict their "love" with a behavior that does not show that love at all. But that is my opinion, and people have all their right to consider what I consider a mirage a reality. Most people say that "every relationship has its problems" but sometimes it is more like an excuse to believe they really love each other when they don't, since most of their time together it's all about arguing, and the only "good" moments are all about cuddling and having sex. For me that's not romantic love. My own opinion. To each its own.