Are you familiar with the concept of love languages? For those who don’t know, it’s the idea that different people give and receive love in one of five ways: through acts of service, words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, or gifts. Gary Chapman introduced this concept to the world in 1992 when he wrote his first book, aptly titled, The 5 Love Languages, which he has since expanded into an 11-book series.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a mix of all 5 love languages. I thrive on words of affirmation and acts of service, and real quality time is great, too. But some fresh flowers (gift) and a bum squeeze (touch) from my hubby also makes me happy, so I guess I’m just a love language floozy (to use a term my grandmother enjoyed).
But my biggest, loudest love language these days is texting emojis, puns, jokes (often inappropriate), memes, gifs, reels, and TikToks to my friends and family. Nothing says I love you and I’m thinking about you than some ridiculous 90-second video created by a random person on Instagram or TikTok.
I know some see my daily journey down the reel rabbit hole as a waste of time, but scrolling social media and sharing videos or memes that make me laugh brings me joy. And for the most part, it brings my family and friends joy, too. Just not my kids. They think my habit is less of a love language and more of a toxic trait. To be fair, it’s probably both. I tend to be a bit of a spammer, sending them 3 or 4 (or 10) clips at a time. #sorrynotsorry.
So I think it’s time for a Love Languages refresh … Maybe Gary wants to co-author it with me.
-LJDT
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