Dark Side

This song has been playing internally on and off over the last few weeks. This is partly because it's one that gets stuck in my head after I hear it, and partly because the questions posed in this song are some I've been grappling with lately in my romantic relationship:

Oh oh oh, there's a place that I know
It's not pretty there and few have ever gone
If I show it to you now
Will it make you run away?

Or will you stay
Even if it hurts
Even if I try to push you out
Will you return?
And remind me who I really am
Please remind me who I really am

Those are my favorite lyrics, those last two lines, because to me that's the greatest gift love has to offer: a reminder of our own loveliness. I've talked about this is previous posts, and I've mainly been talking about me needing to be reminded of who I really am.

But I'm feeling pretty solid in that now. The old me, when going through a rocky phase of a romantic relationship, would be tempted, and often would, break up with my boyfriend. But I'm not feeling that this time around.

Because like Kelly Clarkson, I know that:

Everybody's got a dark side
Do you love me?
Can you love mine?
Nobody's a picture perfect
But we're worth it
You know that we're worth it
Will you love me?
Even with my dark side?

Like a diamond
From black dust
It's hard to know
What can become
If you give up
So don't give up on me
Please remind me who I really am

I'm not giving up, and I'm not running away, either:

Don't run away
Don't run away
Just tell me that you will stay
Promise me you will stay
Don't run away
Don't run away
Just promise me you will stay
Promise me you will stay

Because as frustrating as this space we're in can be sometimes, I have to believe in the power of love to help make us into the people we want to be, the people we are deep inside. How could I believe otherwise? It's through the power of love that I know who I really am, and now I get to focus on bringing it to the rest of the world, for which I am extremely grateful...