Feb 2026 – Yellywelly

Just thinking out loud.

It’s a free country and we’re all allowed the civil liberties that people living in democratic societies have the privilege of enjoying…and taking for granted. We go about our days doing what we want, saying what we want, to a certain extent, acquiring what we want. We live in a society where we can own what we want.

What we forget is that ownership comes with accountability. We are responsible for what we have. We need to care for what we have. We are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance, and ultimately the survival of the things we have: things, property, machines, responsibilities, relationships, etc.

In the same vein, we own what comes from us: our creations, the work we do, the things we say, our actions, how we affect others, how we treat ourselves. We forget that while it is a free world and we can do what we want, when we want, how we want to do it, the guardrail is that we need to ask ourselves the question: should you do it just because you can? Just because it is possible, does it make it desirable? And as an extension, just because you want it, should you have it?

In this world of hyper consumerism and hyper consumption, have we lost the ability to determine the difference between want and need?

Love and its expressions are so individual. Some use words. Some use action. It is as individual and unique as the person expressing it. There are different depths, different intensities, different levels, different kinds of love.

I’ve come to realise that love is in the small things. It’s in the way they say I’m thinking of you without saying it out loud. It’s in the small considerations. It’s in the small inconveniences they allow because you matter more to them than the disregulation they’ll feel. It’s in the small, fleeting touches, the side looks, in the involuntary smiles. It’s in the way they let you see them and their vulnerabilities. It’s in the small but dependable, almost habitual consistency. It’s how they are present for you, and not just by being there physically.

I am not, by any means, discounting the showy outpouring expressions of love. Yes, love is also in the grand gestures, in the wonderful, audible proclamations, the generous gift-giving, and the opening-of-the-floodgates intensity of expression. While the out-loud expressions can be performative because of societal expectations, there are the small, telltale signs that there was thought in the actions, and that you were the sole focus of the action.

When you are truly loved, you know. You feel it.

Love begets love. You need to trust that it does. Because it will.